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ERNICIOUS 



Pork 



WI LLIAM -T-HA LLETT 




Class 'LLS5k 

Book J P S,H_2^_ 

Copyright W^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



PERNICIOUS PORK 

OR 

Astounding Revelations of the Evil 
Effects of Eating Swine Flesh 

A Book for the Public, the 
Individual and the Family 

WILLIAM T* HALLETT 



WITH SPECIAL INTRODUCTION 




BROADWAY PUBLISHING 
COMPANY :: AT 835 
BROADWAY IN NEW YORK 



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Copyright, 1903, 

by 

WILLIAM T. HALLETT. 



Pernicious Pork 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the onward rush of civilization great truths, 
like great events, become submerged in the engulf- 
ing sea of forgetfulness. They would forever be 
lost to man were it not for some gigantic influence 
whose force and ability rescue these truths from 
obscurity and give them once more to the world 
for the betterment of mankind. 

Not since biblical times have we heard the 
clamorous warnings against the evils of eating 
swine flesh. 

The ancient Jews were a cleanly people in their 
food as well as their raiment, and, until these 
pages shall have been read, the unwholesomeness 
of pork can hardly be realized. 

It is small wonder the ancient race refused to 
eat of it, and it is astounding that civilization 
should permit its use. Why is it that no forceful 
will has arisen in denunciation and warning to 
stop this abhorrent practice? 

Are we not living in a progressive age? Are 



we not ascending the ladder of social improvement 
and scientific development? Yet a deadly evil 
such as this is permitted to flourish, with scarcely 
a dissenting voice to arrest the attention of the 
innocent and ignorant victims. 

The brave author of this book has modestly 
chosen for his motto the words, "Someone Must 
Say It/"' And he has said his say with truthful- 
ness and skill. He has cited many historical inci- 
dents to prove his assertions, quoting from various 
sources many facts which hitherto have been little 

known. 

No greater philanthropy could be exercised than 
this giving to the reading world of a volume which 
the youngest student may read with the same 
understanding as the wisest of scholars, and share 
equally in the timely and forceful truths im- 
parted. 

Anyone whose influence tends to social or physi- 
cal improvement is a benefactor of the race, and 
as such the author of this remarkable volume will 
be known. 

He has expounded truths which have been hid- 
den in the mists of obscurity for generations, and 
suggested practical means to repair the destruction 
wrought thereby. 

He quotes numberless authorities whose revela- 
tions prove his own assertions, while his suggested 
methods of reform are original and full of merit. 



and must leave a favorable impression upon every 
sensible mind. 

This helpful work is interesting and well writ- 
ten, its style fluent and lucid, its tone judicial, 
while its explanations and arguments are convinc- 
ing- _^ . , 

To those who are seeking only entertainment 

the book will strongly appeal, while to those who 
are searching for truth and who are interested in 
this most vital subject it will speak with all the 
insistence belonging to great originality, research, 
earnestness, and humanitarian zeal. 

S. G. C. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 
lis TRODUCTION ^^ 

xi 

FOREWOKD 

CHAPTER I. 
Statement of the Case ^ 

CHAPTER II. 

Is the Law of the Clean and the Unclean Still 

Binding On Us? "* 

CHAPTER III. 

Containing the Law of the Clean and the Unclean. 10 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Philosophy of Clean and Unclean Practically 

Unfathomable ^^ 

CHAPTER V. 

Suggested by a Perusal of the Eleventh Chapter of 
Leviticus 

CHAPTER VI. 
Quotations from the New Testament 22 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Practical Sea Captain . . , , 27 



viii Contents. 

CHAPTER VIII. p^GE 

The Beginning of Testimony 30 

CHAPTER IX. 
Testa of Eating Various Kinds of Fat 35 

CHAPTER X. 
Mistaken Conclusions 38 

CHAPTER XI. 

Fearful Case of Eating Pork by a Farmer's Fam- 
ily, Which is only the Story of Thousands of 
Others 42 

CHAPTER XII. 
Philosophical 47 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Sad Case of a Young Girl 49 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Another Notable Case 51 

CHAPTER XV. 

Still Another Case 54 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Melancholy Case of a Farmer of New Jersey. 57 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Salt Rheum and Erysipelas 59 

CHAPTER XVIIL 
What They Say 61 



Contents. 



IX 



CHAPTER XIX. PAGE 

Solid Testimony by Doctor Froligh ^^^^^^^^;^] ^ 

Marcy 

CHAFTER XX. 

Remarks on the Foregoing Quotations-Leprosy... 66 

CHAPTER XXI. 

73 

A Bad Dose 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Squire's Indigestion 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

78 

Tape-Worm 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
A Short Chapter Worth Reading.-Onion 82 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The Chinese Nation and Chinese Leprosy 85 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Horse Meat.-Law in New York Against its Sale. 91 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

QQ 

The Decay and Fall of the Nation • • • 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Dangers of Heedlessness Regarding Sanitation.... 101 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
The Rev. Doctor Dowie and His Sayings 105 

CHAPTER XXX. 

115 

The Latest; Snake-fed Ham ' *^ 



« 



^ Contents. 

CHAPTER XXXI. p^^^j. 

the Public Really Taking Hold of the Subject.— 

Garbage-fed Pork 119 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Trichina Spiralis.— New York Herald Articles 121 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Trichina Continued. — Cystocererci 132 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Foreigners Getting their Eyes Open 134 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Utilities of Swine 136 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Statistics of the Pork Production in the United 
States, Exported During the Year Ending 
June 30, 1899 141 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Appeals 347 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Coming to Close Quarters — Effects of Small 

Amounts of Pork Eaten in Families 157 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Cooking Fats 360 

CHAPTER XL. 
Recapitulation 162 



FOREWORD. 

This work was projected some three years 
ago, and during this time, has— more or less- 
been subjected to careful study. 

Having engaged in a profession through life 
considerably involving sanitation, and also hav- 
ing an enthusiasm for kindred things, I may, per- 
haps, be pardoned for dwelling somewhat 
pointedly upon the matter in hand. 

With regard to the subject as affecting the 
welfare of my countrymen generally, I cannot, 
either in the preface or in the body of the work, 
it is feared, sufficiently impress it upon them. 

If success in a degree shall be attained in 
arousing some from apparent lethargy in relation 
to that which they eat and that which they 
should re'fuse to eat, this will, indeed, be some- 
thing gai-ned. 

The work will be found as one of assertion 



xii Foreword. 

more than of argument, for it is not proposed 
at this late day to argue the question of, whether 
it is injurious to fill one's self with so vile a 
substance as swine flesh after becoming pork, 
or not ; — indeed, one of the most peculiar things 
with regard to pork eating is, that in its defense 
we have never yet heard a sound reason ad- 
vanced. 

Philosophical statements giving the why and 
wherefore of various matters, as far as practica- 
ble should be made. The testimony of disinter- 
ested experts ought to be accepted without ques- 
tion ; while observation and research extending 
through a period of years, would seem to be 
sufficient for the fair minded and the intelligent 
as conclusive. 

That Jehovah Himself deemed it necessary to 
give positive commandment in the matter with 
specifications extending to the minutest detail, 
is a sufficient finality of the whole question. 

W. T. H. 
New York, May, 1903. 



SOME ONE MUST SAY IT 



PERNICIOUS PORK. 



CHAPTER I. 

STATEMENT OF THE CASE. 

A PROPER discrimination regarding the nature 
of substances introduced into the stomach from 
day to day, is a matter of vital importance to 
our well being. 

Whether we have a knowledge of the action 
on the system of these substances or not, they 
will still work out their legitimate results, in 
spite of our beliefs or desires. That there is 
a great difference too among the people as to 
knowing — or in many instances, of even caring 
much about these things — is also true; though 
the large majority of well intentioned folk must 
be accounted as being always ready to avail them- 
selves of that which they are convinced is for 
their present and permanent good. 

In proceeding then, with our subject mat- 



2 Pernicious Pork. 

ter at once, It may be observed, first — that upon 
the consumption of pork as an article of food, 
respectable numbers of intelligent men and 
women of our country, have, long ere this, set the 
seal of condemnation. 

This advance in thinking has been brought 
about in various ways — partly through the insis- 
tence of the medical profession — by conclu- 
sions arising from the exercise of reason and 
common sense — the considerable influence of the 
public press, together with a gradual awakening 
of many to the vital teachings on the subject of 
Holy Writ. The silent influence, too, of the 
cities and larger towns, which, as a rule, con- 
tain aggregations of the descendants of that an- 
cient people, the Israelites, has had its salutary 
effect ; for it cannot be denied, that through 
thick and thin, they — to their praise be it said — 
have steadfastly adhered to the commands of 
Jehovah with regard to the eating of clean and 
unclean things. 

Grounds then, which I propose to informally 
-maintain, are: 

First. — That swine flesh on becoming aii ar- 
ticle of food, is totally unclean, and most perni- 
cious in its effects, and, therefore, its use should 
be abandoned by every one. 

Second. — That its far reaching influence 



[Statement of the Case. 3 

through contamination of the physical system, 
and, consequently, of the moral and spiritual 
nature, should be in these particulars, a source 
of alarming solicitude to the individual, as it is 
a direct menace in its enormity to the stability 
and perpetuity of the nation ; therefore, universal 
apprehension for the general good should be 
aroused in the minds of every citizen and patriot. 

Third. — That the great corruption of the coun- 
try in the v^^ay of morals, general lawlessness, 
intemperance and spiritual degeneracy, is due, 
in a great degree, directly or indirectly, to the 
eating of this polluting substance. 

Fourth. — That our country being a great pro- 
ducer of swine, and really the source of the pork 
supply for nearly half the world, it becomes the 
duty of all right minded men, women and chil- 
dren, to do what they can, individually and col- 
lectively, to rid the face of the earth, as far as 
in them lies, of its presence. 

In consideration then, of these premises, it is 
my purpose to set before the reader an amount 
of evidence, which, to those possessed of candor, 
should be not only convincing, but still better, 
if it shall cause such to abandon the use of an 
article of food so mischievous in its operations 
on the human system, as pork and its various ad- 
junctive parts. 



Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER 11. 

IS THE LAW OF THE CLEAN AND THE UNCLEAN 
STILL BINDING ON US? 

With regard to the question of, whether the 
old Mosaic law of the clean and the unclean is 
binding on us of the present day and age, I pro- 
pose to suggest no profitless controversy. It is 
enough to know that swine's flesh as food was 
created unclean by the Almighty ; that He gave 
commandment that it should not be eaten ; that 
the Israelites, for the most part, have kept the 
law to their great good until now, while our own 
eminent physicians testify most pointedly the 
direful effects of eating pork. 

If physical good, then, resulted to the people 
of old by abstaining from the use of pork, so also 
will abstinence in present time result. 

But if it would have eventuated in pollution of 
body and mind for the Jews to eat pork, so also 
will it eventuate with us of to-day, if persisted in. 

Did the Israelite reap physical benefit horn 



Is the Law Still Binding on Us? 5 

obeying the command ? Then it is a serious com- 
mentary on Christian Hving that the custom es- 
tabhshed should have been allowed to fall into 
almost total disuse ! 

The commandment was clearly stated, as given 
by God Himself to the offspring of Israel, 
through the medium of Moses, His servant. The 
consequences of disobedience were the same then 
as they are to-day with us — a physical injury pri- 
marily and thence both a moral and spiritual one 
besides. 

Or, if it be claimed that the commandment 
shall be classed as belonging simply to the cere- 
monial or the ephemeral, why may we not urge 
the same thing for the laws of the Mosaic Dis- 
pensation generally? 

The results of the habits of our forefathers in 
this relation were, the bringing in of many dis- 
eases and semi-diseases, of which we shall have 
more to say. 

The question has often been asked, "Why the 
early Americans who came from the old country, 
mostly Englishmen of full blood, should sq 
'scrawn' away as to become the proverbially thin 
and lank appearing men that very many of them 
did become?" Can there be the least doubt that 
their excessive pork eating was one of the most 
potent factors in the transition, especially v/hen 



6 Pernicious Pork. 

we are reminded by one of intelligence "that the 
early New Englanders, and others, were inor- 
dinately given to the eating of pork ; it being their 
staple in the way of fresh meat"? 

If, then, it were good for the Israelites to ab- 
stain from eating pork, such is also excellent 
philosophy for us to adopt. And how, we may 
ask, does pork in its chemical nature dififer from 
that in existence at the time the commandment 
forbidding its use was declared? 

The answer is, — That it now differs in its 
chemical nature from that, probably not in so 
much as a single iota ! 

Or, can evidence of any kind be found, either 
biblical or medical, or even historical, that the 
unclean nature of the substance has been changed 
since the incoming of the Christian era, or at 
any other time? Noiie ivhatsoever; on the con- 
trary, our eminent physicians of both the allo- 
pathic and the homeopathic schools, affirm and 
reaffirm, not only its utter vileness, but its dis- 
ease dealing proclivities, as we shall abvmdantly 
show. We might as well attempt to set aside 
some of the Ten Commandments themselves, 
should they get inconveniently in our way, as to 
ignore this one ; for all were given from the same 
source, and at about the same time; though by 
different mxCthods. 



Is the Law Still Binding on Us? 7 

Bible students agree that cardinal doctrines and 
teachings of the Old Testament were given us for 
an ''eiisaniple/^ Pork, therefore, not being a whit 
cleaner meat to-day than when the command 
against it was given, it remains a fact, that for 
our own welfare, as well as for that of genera- 
tions which shall come after us, to repudiate 
its use totally is just as binding upon us as it was 
on the Israelites of old. Indeed, is abstinence not 
as great a boon to God's people of this age as it 
was to God's people of thousands of years ago? 

In this light, then — of the Old Testament as be- 
ing a teacher and guide for the Christian as well 
as the Israelite — it is quite doubtful if the com- 
mandment was really intended at the outset any 
more for the latter than for the former. 

In view, therefore, of the data given, and of the 
principles involved, I dismiss the theory of the 
old law as not being binding on the people of to- 
day as virtually false. 



The following quotation is as sensible as it is 
unambiguous : — 

"We find this in answer to correspondents in 
a bright little New York paper. It is a question 
and answer in the doctor's column, and we wish 



8 Pernicious Pork. 

there were more doctors who were more *He- 
brewish' in this regard. 

"Question : Do you believe in kilHng hogs in 
the moon as to its affecting the pork? 

''Answer : The writer does not believe in killing 
hogs in the moon or out of the moon or at any 
time. Let the hog live as long as he can and do 
his duty as a scavenger. While he is alive he 
serves a useful purpose. When he is dead he is 
likely to make mischief unless he is accorded the 
privilege of a decent burial. Hogs were never in- 
tended to be eaten." , 

To the last statement many a poor dyspeptic 
who has rtuned his stomach on breakfasts of 
buckwheat cakes and ham, dinners of roast pork 
and pie, added to by suppers in which the "hot 
dish" is sausage or more ham (not an infrequent 
American menu, by the way), many a poor suf- 
ferer will say, "Amen, doctor; if we had only 
known sooner." 

The fact is, there is a great deal we might 
learn from those old Jewish laws on the subject 
of hygiene, especially as it touches the home. The 
ancient Jews knew what health was and the value 
of it. They were God's chosen people, and Sam- 
son was not their only strong man nor the regal 
Esther their only beautiful woman. Their wom- 
en had the finest complexions of any race in the 



Is the Law Still Binding on Us? 9 

world — and it is just as well to remember that 
they didn't eat pork." Stamford (Conn.), Ad- 
vocate. 

We shall now quote from the Bible, the law of 
the Clean and the Unclean ; being the eleventh 
chapter of the book of Leviticus, and which we 
may say, after comparing them, is precisely the 
same in both the Douay and our own versions. 



10 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER III. 

CONTAINING THE LAW OF THE CLEAN AND THE 
UNCLEAN. 

Leviticus, Chapter XL 

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and to 
Aaron., saying unto them, 

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying. 
These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all 
the beasts that are on the earth. 

3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven- 
footed, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, 
that shall ye eat. 

4 Nevertheless, these shall ye not eat of them 
that chew the cud, or of them that divide the 
hoof, as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, 
but divideth not the hoof ; he is unclean unto you. 

5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, 
but divideth not the hoof ; he is unclean unto you. 

6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, 
but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 



Law of the Clean and Unclean. 11 

7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, 
and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud ; 
he is unclean to you. 

8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their car- 
cass shall ye not touch; they are unclean to 
you. 

9 ^ These shall ye eat of all that are in the 
waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the 
waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall 
ye eat. 

10 And all that have not fins and scales in the 
seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the 
waters, and of any living thing which is in the 
waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. 

11 They shall be even an abomination unto 
you ; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall 
have their carcasses in abomination. 

12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the 
waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. 

13 Tl And these are they which ye shall have in 
abomination among the fowls : they shall not be 
eaten, they are an abomination : the eagle and the 
ossifrage, and the osprey, 

14 And the vulture, and the kite after his 
kind; 

15 Every raven after his kind; 

16 And the owl, and the nighthawk, and the 
cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, 



12 Pernicious Pork. 

17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and 
the great owl, 

18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the 
gier eagle, 

19 And the stork, and the heron after her 
kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. 

20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, 
shall be an abomination unto you. 

21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creep- 
ing thing that goeth upon all four, which have 
legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the 
earth ; 

22 Even these of them ye may eat ; the locust 
after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, 
and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper 
after his kind. 

23 But all other flying creeping things, which 
have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you. 

24 And for these ye shall be unclean ; whoso- 
ever toucheth the carcass of them shall be un- 
clean until the even. 

25 And whosoever beareth aught of the car- 
cass of them shall wash his clothes, and be un- 
clean until the even. 

26 The carcasses of every beast which divid- 
eth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor chew- 
eth the cud, are unclean unto you ; every one that 
toucheth them shall be unclean. 



Law of the Clean and Unclean. 13 

27 And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, 
among all manner of beasts that go on all four, 
those are unclean unto you ; whoso toucheth their 
carcass shall be unclean until the even. 

28 And he that beareth the carcass of them 
shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the 
even ; they are unclean unto you. 

29 Tf These also shall be unclean unto you 
among the creeping things that creep upon the 
earth ; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise 
after his kind, 

30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the 
lizard, and the snail, and the mole. 

31 These are unclean to you among all that 
creep : whosoever doth touch them, when they be 
dead, shall be unclean until the even. 

32 And upon whatsoever any of them, when 
they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; 
whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or 
skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any 
work is done, it must be put into water, and it 
shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be 
cleansed. 

33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any 
of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be un- 
clean ; and ye shall break it. 

34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that on 
which such water cometh shall be unclean; and 



14 Pernicious Pork. 

all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel 
shall be unclean. 

35 And every thing whereupon aivy part of 
their carcass falleth shall be unclean ; zvhether it 
he oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken 
down ; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean 
unto you. 

36 Nevertheless a fountain or pit wherein there 
is plenty of water, shall be clean ; but that which 
toucheth their carcass shall be unclean. 

37 And if any part of their carcass fall upon 
any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be 
clean. 

38 But if any water be put upon the seed, and 
any part of their carcass fall thereon, it shall be 
unclean unto you. 

39 And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; 
he that touches that carcass thereof shall be un- 
clean until the even. 

40 And he that eateth of the carcass of it shall 
wash his clothes, and be unclean until the eyen; 
he also that beareth the carcass of it shall wash 
his clothes, and be unclean until the even. 

41 And every creeping thing that creepeth 
upon the earth shall be an abomination ; it shall 
not be eaten. 

42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and what- 
soever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath 



Law of the Clean and Unclean. 15 

more feet among all creeping things that creep 
upon the earth, them ye shall not eat ; for they are 
an abomination. 

43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable 
with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither 
shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that 
ye should be defiled thereby. 

44 For I am the Lord your God ; ye shall there- 
fore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy ; fot 
I am holy; neither shall ye defile yourselves with 
any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon 

the earth. 

45 For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out 
of the land of Egypt, to be your God; ye shall 
therefore be holy, for I am holy. 

46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the 
fowl, and of every living creature that moveth 
in the waters, and of every creature that creep- 
eth upon the earth : 

47 To make a difference between the unclean 
and the clean, and between the beast that may be 
eaten and the beast that may not be eaten. 



16 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF CLEAN AND UNCLEAN PRAC- 
TICALLY UNFATHOMABLE. 

In view of that which has been read in the pre- 
ceding chapter, the suggestion doubtless arises of 
inquiring into the nature of the Clean and the 
Unclean, or why should the internal organism of 
a particular animal cause that animal's flesh to be 
clean or unclean food for mankind? 

The inquiry would certainly be pertinent; but 
we suspect that as yet neither scholar nor sci- 
entist has been able to solve the problem. All 
that can be said of it seems to be that He Who 
made the animals, made them clean and unclean 
for a purpose, and furthermore, He had the good- 
ness to promptly inform us how to distinguish 
between the two conditions. 

It was essential to man's well being that he 
should know this, or it would not have been de- 
liberately commanded, even to the minutest de- 



Practically Unfathomable. 17 

tail ; nor would it have accorded with the benevo- 
lence of the Creator to place man in the midst of 
hurtful and beneficial alimentary things without 
giving him notice of some kind as to their physi- 
cal effects. 

But is it to the credit at all of the Christian, 
either nominal or professed, to have gone on for 
nearly two thousand years, polluting generation 
after generation through the eating of improper 
and forbidden things? 

Truly, the Christian has had good reason for 
centuries to lament over conditions expressed in 
the following couplet ; when one serious source of 
the same without doubt has been the almost literal 
soaking of the liver and the system generally in 
the fat of the pig : 

"Where is the blessedness I knew 
When first I sazv the Lord?" 

If any believe that various physical conditions 
may not be helps or hindrances to spiritual prog- 
ress, they should be undeceived at once. 

And as we survey the vast and increasing pork- 
producing area, we may inquire : When at such a 
rate will the world be purged of the impurities 
and the imperfections requisite for the great 
events of the second coming of Christ and the 



18 Pernicious Pork. 

millennium; which, according to the belief of 
some, are not so very far away ? 

Many pray continually that "His Kingdom 
may come" and that "His will may be done," but 
go straightway to their deliberately ordered din- 
ner of "the Pernicious"— not thinking that eating 
the same is in direct contravention of their peti- 
tions and in utter opposition to the commandment ! 



A Quotation. 19 



CHAPTER V. 

SUGGESTED BY A PERUSAL OF THE ELEVENTH CHAP- 
TER OF LEVITICUS. 

The following quotation is from the anony- 
mous writings of an English clergyman and is 
much to the point : — 

"Oh ! for a deeper sense of the fulness, majesty 
and authority of the Word of God! We very 
much need to be braced up on this point. We 
want such a deep, bold, vigorous, influential and 
abiding sense of the supreme authority of the 
divine canon and of its absolute completeness for 
every age, every clime, every position, every de- 
partment — personal, social and ecclesiastical — as 
shall enable us to withstand every attempt of the 
enemy to depreciate the value of that inestimable 
treasure. May our hearts enter more into the 
spirit of these words of the Psalmist : Thy word 
is true from the beginning; and every one of Thy 



20 Pernicious Pork. 

righteous judgments endureth forever.* (Psalm 

cxix. i6o.) 

'The foregoing train of thought is awakened 
by the perusal of the eleventh chapter of Leviti- 
cus. Therein we find Jehovah entering, in a most 
marvelous detail, into a description of beasts, 
birds, fishes and reptiles, and furnishing His peo- 
ple with various marks by which they were to 
know what was clean and what was unclean. We 
have the summing up of the entire contents of this 
remarkable chapter in the two closing verses. This 
is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of 
every living creature that moveth in the waters, 
and of every creature that creepeth upon the 
earth ; to make a difference between the unclean 
and the clean, and between the beast that may be 
eaten and the beast that may not be eaten. 

"With regard to beasts, two things are essential 
to render them clean, they should chew the cud 
and divide the hoof. 'Whatsoever parteth the 
hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud 
among the beasts, that shall ye eat.' Either of 
these marks of itself would have been wholly in- 
sufficient to constitute cleanness. The two should 
go together. 

"The divided hoof was insufficient if not ac- 
companied by the chewing of the cud. The 



A Quotation. 21 

swine, though he divide the hoof and be cloven- 
footed, yet he cheweth not the cud ; he is unclean 
to you.' In a word, then, the two things are in- 
separable in the case of every clean animal." 
And this, dear reader, is late modern utterance. 



22 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER VI. 

QUOTATIONS FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

There seems to be an impression in the minds 
of many that since the dawn of the Christian 
era certain matters or meat — swine flesh in- 
cluded' — have somehow become changed, and 
through miraculous or other power have been 
made clean. 

These triumphantly refer to a passage in the 
New Testament— Acts of the Apostles, the elev- 
enth chapter, verses 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, which we 
quote — it being Peter who speaks : — 

5. *T was in the city of Joppa praying; and in 
a trance I saw a vision. A certain vessel de- 
scended, as it had been a great sheet, let down 
from heaven by four corners ; and it came even 

to me: — 

6. Upon the which when I had fastened mine 
eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts 
of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping 
things, and fowls of the air. 



New Testament Quotations. 23 

7. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, 
Peter, slay and eat. 

8. But I said, Not so, Lord : — for nothing com- 
mon or unclean hath at any time entered into 
my mouth. 

9. But the voice answered me again from 
heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not 
thou common." 

This passage refers to the departure of Peter 
from Jewish custom, in consorting with the Gen- 
tiles when accused of the same by his Israelitish 
associates ; it being an explanatory defense to 
them, which proved acceptable. 

'It may be added that this was at the time of 
the offering of salvation to the Gentiles, accord- 
ing to the ways of the New Dispensation ; the 
Jews having already rejected Christ. 

Peter was in a trance, observe, and saw a vision 
of wild beasts, fowls, creeping things, let down 
from heaven in a sheet, when a voice said, "Arise, 
Peter, slay and eat." "Not so, Lord," he repHed, 
"I have never eaten the common and unclean." 
He was a Jew, and just here referred to pork and 
other unclean things. Then the voice answered — • 
he still being in the trance — "What God hath 
cleansed, call not thou common." 

Remember, that with the signal of the rending 
in twain of the veil of the Temple at the time of 



24 Pernicious Pork. 

the crucifixion, the Jewish Dispensation ended 
and the Christian Dispensation began. God had 
now, so to speak, cleansed the Gentiles of their 
former relation ; but there is nowhere any refer- 
ence of any kind to the cleansing of pork and 
other unclean things— for why should they be 
made clean? 

The meaning of the whole incident was to 
show Peter that now the Gentiles were to have 
the favor of Heaven, and that he was expected to 
use his influence to this effect. 

If they theretofore had been regarded as un- 
clean or common they were no more to be so con- 
sidered— if or whom God had cleansed, such were 
not to be called unclean. 

If any should have a lingering doubt as to 
whether the cleanliness of animals or of men is 
here referred to, let them turn to the last clause 
of verse 28 of Acts 10: ''But God hath showed 
me (Peter) that I should not call any man com- 
mon or unclean." 

But seriously, isn't it a little odd that the aiders 
and abettors of pork eating adhere so tenaciously 
to the one item of the unclean— namely, pork— 
leavine numbers of others entirely unnoticed? If 
any of them have become clean, why not aUf 
such as a rat, dog, cat, camel and all the rest, 
their names being legion. Or, if there is now no 



New Testament Quotations. 25 

harm in eating the unclean — which isn't a fact, 
then the commandment is resolved into an un- 
meaning farce — which is something that cannot 
be admitted. 

Again, there is that other passage which proves 
such a stumbling block in this connection to 
many — Romans 14, verses 14, 15, 16: — 

14. "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord 
Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself ; 
but to him that esteemeth anything to be un- 
clean, to him it is unclean." 

15. ''But if thy brother be grieved with thy 
meat, now walkest not thou charitably. De- 
stroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ 
died." 

16. ''Let not, then, your good be evil spoken 

of." 

The passage is roundly but mistakenly quoted 
in support of their theory bv those who affirm 
the harmlessness of eating swine flesh. 

The word unclean in verse 14 is not used in the 
sense in which it is being used in these pages. 
Theories, doctrines and similar things are what 
are referred to in the Bible. The passage might 
be rendered thus : — 

Do not, therefore, stoutly set up your opinions 
against a weaker brother, as your attitude may 
prov^ to be his downfall— in his being unable to 



26 Pernicious Pork. 

bear up against so ''strong meat" — when the good 
in you, through his possible fall, might fee in dan- 
ger of being evil spoken of. 

There is still another passage which unthink- 
ing people quote to their great satisfaction — St. 
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 15, verse 11:— 

*'Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth 
a man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, 
this defileth a man." 

Straightway after reading this they say, ''Are 
we not, then, at liberty to eat without harm any- 
thing we please— does not the Bible allow us so 
to do?" 

The passage may be made clear to these by 
rendering it as follows: — 

That unclean food which goeth into the mouth 
defileth a man not nearly as much as the aggre- 
gate uncleanness that cometh out of the mouths 
of some in the way of vile language, conversa- 
tion and slander— nor are the lasting effects of 
the former to be compared with those of the 
latter ! 



The Practical Sea Captain. 27 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PRACTICAL SEA CAPTAIN. 

An old sea captain— a Christian — upon report- 
ing back to us, after having been referred to the 
eleventh chapter oi the book of Leviticus, said, 
''Why, all shellfish are included in the unclean 
according to this ! — and still the doctors at times 
prescribe for an invalid oysters and oyster broth 
as among beneficial and appetizing delicacies. I 
never, it seems to me, can accept the theory that 
these are unclean." 

"So then you cannot accept Scripture as quite 
correct," we replied. 

"But," he continued, "the iodine in clam and 
oyster liquid, together with the phosphorus and 
salt, are bracing and strengthening to every one." 

"Quite true," we said, "they are so to those in 
whom they are wanting." 

All of this he had verified by hivS daily expen> 



28 Pernicious Pork. 

ence for years, and he declared it with the brev- 
ity and aplomb of a chemist. 

"And there is nothing," he said, "that will 
build up the health and constitution like the sea 
air, laden with these same chemicals." 

"Yes," — we admitted it all — "but what of the 
commandment?" we asked. 

Here he was some time m reaching conclu- 
sions, inasmuch, presumably as we appeared to 
question his attitude regarding Scriptural asser- 
tions. 

It is just here — these chemicals are most 
strengthening to the weakened system, whether 
associated with sea food or not ; but what practi- 
cal and pleasurable vehicles for conveying them 
to the human organism do the sea products and 
the elements of air and water become ! 

It would seem, too, that the benefits of the sea 
product of shellfish — aside from lobster — far out- 
balance the lesser amount of the unclean, as con- 
tained in the oyster and in the clam of both the 
quahaug and the soft-shell varieties; and com- 
pare the small amount and the diminished inten- 
sity of the unclean in these with that found in 
pork! — ^there can scarcely be room for com.pari- 
son. 

Think ^Iso of the pollution in pork, with its in- 
sidious, penetrative and super-fowl nature, &a 



The Practical Sea Captain. 29 

contrasted with the accompanying — we might al- 
most say — antidoting chemicals in the kinds of 
shellfish named. 

But — as opposed to all this— there stands the 
commandment, which cannot be ignored! 

Iodine, which is a non-metallic element, is de- 
rived mostly from seaweeds. It is used allopathi- 
cally for many complaints and diseases, being a 
most valuable and powerful medicine in combina- 
tion and otherwise. 

When used homeopathically it is a rapidly act- 
ing and potent nerve tonic, causing a general 
bracing up. 

Phosphorus, as contained in the syrup-of-the- 
hypophosphites and elsewhere, is a great builder 
of brain, nerve and bone, and consequently is 
much used in emaciated conditions. 



30 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BEGINNING OF TESTIMONY. 

In setting forth testimony sustaining our ten- 
ets in connection with the diabolical effects on the 
human system of eating swine flesh, first men- 
tion will be made of a lady in middle life who was 
a serious invalid for more than fifteen years; a 
sensitive, nervous person, who could bear nothing 
on the stomach of abnormal character. 

Here was an opportunity for provings. 

What may be called experimental tests were 
carried on for a number of years for the purpose 
of scrutinizing from time to time that which 
might be found necessary for the good of the in- 
valid. 

Everything of the pork nature, therefore, it 
was found, was at all times rejected by the ac- 
tion of the stomach. Great pain and total inabil- 
ity to digest the stuff were results of every at- 



The Beginning of Testimony. 31 

tempt in this direction — nay, the effect on the 
whole nervous system was prostration, mitil the 
substance was in some way eliminated ; while fa- 
cial expression of dejection or anguish after a 
night of suffering were sufficient testimonies of 
inward conditions. 

The rejection, too, of lard in every department 
of the household cookery was found to be im- 
perative and the more wholesome fat of beef and 
mutton substituted therefor. If by accident lard 
was at any time used, it was immediately de- 
tected by the sufferer upon being received into 
the stomach. 

Here, then, is evidence of that which the mis- 
erable substance is capable of effecting in the case 
of an invalid whose stomach and nerves were in 
very sensitive conditions — and we may bear in 
mind the fact that an enfeebled physical state 
will show effect of treatment much more quickly 
than the stronger one. 

Referring to lard, which might be called the 
essence of pork — the essence of anything, for the 
most part, being much more potent than the resi- 
due — who that has inhaled the fumes of hot lard 
arising from the big stone jar, just after the "try- 
ing out," cannot easily detect therewith odors of 
the very pig-pen ? Nor does it require a deal of ol- 
factory practice to discover the same in some of 



32 Pernicious Pork. 

the richer kinds of cake, as compounded by 
some. 

It is humiliating when we reflect upon the wide 
extent in which lard is used for cooking all over 
the country, and for that matter throughout the 
world — because we are now corrupting the na- 
tions not only with our whiskey, but with our 
pork also.* 

Lard may be found here, there and in almost 
everything we eat. 

So much fat of various kinds goes down our 
devoted throats that it is a wonder the digestive 
apparatus should be in condition to operate at all 
— though it must be admitted that the aliment of 
men, when left to their own choosing, is more free 
from fat than when selected by women. 

We see it in all fried foods — in ham and eggs 
particularly, which, as served by many, are 
''swimming in lard." In fried potatoes and fried 
chicken? Yes, for it would nearly stun most of 
us to find either of these cooked in butter. Fried 
oysters and fried escallops? — in lard, to be sure. 
Crullers to be "really good" must be boiled in 
about a quarter of their bulk of lard. Pie crust? 
oh, yes — "it must be nice and short or it is hardly 
fit to eat. 



* (See amount of pork exported from the U, S. dur* 
Ing th^ year ending June 30, iS^Ch^p, 14$,) 



The Beginning of Testimony. 33 

But from the fried meats more enlightened 
people have for the last twenty-five years been 
gradually drawing away to the broiled; while, 
better still, the. best of all methods of cooking 
meats has in a measure come in— the steaming 
process — which renders them more tender and 
much sweeter, besides increasing the flavor to a 
remarkable degree. 

But think for a moment of steaming pork, with 
the odors and impurities, as it were, all steamed 
in! This, if consummated, would seem what 
might properly be termed eating pork with a 
vengeance. 

We might go on indefinitely, including almost 
a majority of the things we eat — good, rich, fat 
gravies, roasted beef and mutton and all the other 
meats ; bread with butter, cake, "good and short," 
containing its pounds of butter, oiled salads, fat, 
fat — grease everywhere, and especially lard, and, 
really, it is a wonder any of us are alive ! 

One medical authority, referring to the sub- 
ject, laments in terms pathetic the ruinous habit 
of filling ourselves with fats and grease of vari- 
ous sorts, stating that "the internal mechanism 
is most seriously clogged thereby." 

Of course, we have need for eating more fat 
in winter than in summer, in order to keep the 



34 Pernicious Pork. 

body warm in the colder season, but we never 
have need of pork or lard at any time. 

In the case of the lady quoted, it was noticed, 
however, that all kinds of nuts, which it was 
found necessary to chew exceedingly fine, could 
be taken with impunity, an argument going far 
towards establishing that late theory of "fruits 
and nuts as being most valuable health foods" 
— ^the oil of nuts being vegetable and not animal 
oil, is presumably more wholesome, especially 
when intermingled with the acid of fruit. 



Tests of Eating Fat. 35 



CHAPTER IX. 

TESTS OF EATING VARIOUS KINDS OF FAT. 

The writer, curious to know the sensations and 
the effects on the skin of eating an overplus of 
the fatty parts of the various meats in vogue, to- 
gether with butter, determined to experiment for 
himself with mutton, butter, beef and pork suc- 
cessively. 

Now, good mutton chops, which are apt to 
be somewhat fat, are, for those who like them, 
not the most unpleasant eating in the world, so 
that we found experiments in this direction not 
in the least irksome. 

After a few days' trial therefore, keeping to 
it of course longer than a usual diet of mutton 
would warrant, we presently began to feel a 
prickling in various localities just beneath the 
surface of the skin in lines directly outward. The 
sensation was as if a few very fine needles were 



36 Pernicious Pork. 

piercing the skin from the interior, but of so re- 
fined a nature as to produce Httle or no unpleas- 
ant feeling. It seemed to say — stop now — you 
have enough. 

So we took the hint, and after allowing Na- 
ture time to clear the way, began a second ex- 
periment. 

Twas with butter this time; but butter, we 
regret to say, did not come up to our expecta- 
tions. 

Butter in excess created a most unpleasant 
soreness of the skin in various places, but of a 
vastly different character to that of pork. The 
patches were spread out and of various dimen- 
sions, although none of them were of special 
magnitude. 

It may have been the case, that being quite 
fond of good bread and butter— especially the 
latter — we were somewhat unstinted in our eat- 
ing, being anxious too for a good proving. But- 
ter was, however, allowed to pass, for the more 
important test of beef. 

The effect of the beef fat was similar in all 
ways to that of mutton, though more pronounced 
more potent — while somehow it gave the im- 
pression of being more healthful and more 
natural than any of the other tests. Of course 
it was therefore more satisfactory ; being utterly 



Tests of Eating Fat. 37 

dissimilar to anything pertaining to the expveri- 
ments with pork. 

On coming to the trial of pork with quahiis 
of conscience, as it were, as well as of stomach ; 
in due time spots began to appear on the skin, 
which, instead of pimpling and heading, spread 
out on the surface in patches broad and sore, 
this being at variance with the previous trials. 

There was evidently poison there of some kmd, 
which, without doubt, proceeded from the un- 
clean. 

Had we kept to a long continued eating of the 
pork, we can imagine the effect with much more 
complacency than would have been pleasant to 
experience. 



38 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER X. 

MISTAKEN CONCLUSIONS. 

A NOTABLE point regarding the eating of pork 
is, that no sound argument at all in its favor can 
be brought forward. 

The most that its friends can say for it is, 
that "we like it," as if that proved anything; or 
that "a good 'ribsper' of pork is hard to beat in 
the way of good eating." While again, many 
will chime in with this — that "my father and my 
grandfather both ate pork throughout their lives, 
and it never harmed them in the least." 

Now this sort of talk is all negative, besides 
being neither truth nor argument; and let such 
as urge the above assertions read this book care- 
fully, and we suspect they will at least then be- 
gin to think that pork-eating might have done 
injury to their progenitors. 

If your forefathers ate unsparingly of pork, 
are you quite sure you have no ails of the physi- 
cal, the moral or the spiritual? We hope not 



Mistaken Conclusions. 39 

most sincerely; — but do not fall Into so serious 
an error yourself. 

Can disobedience of the commands of God be 
indulged in with impunity? 

Direct disobedience of Old Testament ordi- 
nances was followed many times by punishment at 
once severe and condign, — while if in New Tes- 
tament times, Justice seems to be tempered with 
Mercy, as the world tends toward ripened con- 
ditions, there is but little chance of escape from 
violation of physical law ; which In a sense, is as 
much God's law as is the revealed. 

If, for example, one w^ere to swallow in suc- 
cession, poisonous doses of arsenic, what would 
hinder pretty immediate death? — or, If the doses 
were that small as to cause but little perceptible 
effect at once; where, if long continued, are the 
odds in point of fact or argument between imme- 
diate or ultimate demise? 

We cannot transgress physical law without ex- 
periencing resultant effects; — and what a world 
of hope is here suggested to the invalid — be- 
cause the converse is just as true — to wit, that 
any and all efforts put forth in the right direc- 
tion for the recovery of health, will also have 
their legitimate and good results. 

The following from Prof. Drummond Is to the 
point : — 



40 Pernicious Pork. 

"If it makes no impression on a man to know; 
that God will visit his iniquities upon him, he 
cannot blind himself to the fact that Nature will. 
Do not we all know what it is to be punished 
by Nature for disobeying her? We have looked 
round the wards of a hospital, a prison or a 
mad house, and seen there Nature at work 
squaring her accounts with sin. And we knew 
as we looked that if no Judge sat on the throne 
of heaven at all there was a Judgment there, 
where an inexorable Nature was crying aloud for 
Justice, and carrying out her heavy sentences 
for violated laws." 



Following is a bit of testimony entirely dis- 
interested, taken from a leading newspaper of 
New York during the late Spanish war ; the 
writer evidently being a gentleman of discrimina- 
tion. 

RULES FOR HEALTH IN CUBA. 

Dear Sir: — 

If you care to devote the space necessary for 
the publication of this letter, which is the experi- 
ence of my soldier's life in a tropical climate, 
you may thereby render good service to our boys 
in the army. I have for the lasi: eight years been 



Mistaken Conclusions. 41 

with the Holland army in the East India archi- 
pelago, and was always healthy. 

Keep from drinking intoxicating liquors. Eat 
as few vegetables as possible and not much 
fruit. Never touch green fruits. Eat as little 
meat as possible and don't eat pork. Eat 
eggs if you can get them. The principal food 
should be rice without milk or sugar, but with 
a sauce made of red pepper or curry powder. 
The rice should be washed till the floury sub- 
stance is out of it, and it must not be boiled, 
but steamed. 

For cramps in the stomach take from ten to 
fifteen drops of oil cajeput with from five to ten 
drops of laudanum and a small dose of whiskey 
or brandy. If the cramp is severe rub the 
stomach with oil cajeput. Don't drink too much 
water, but if you are in action or marching take 
a small pebble, which will keep your mouth 
moist. By following these rules our boys will 
return well and hearty. 

H. Van Zuilen. 

*'And don't eat pork." The writer had good 
and sufficient reasons for saying this, and we 
should be glad if he had stated them, giving us 
his philosophy. 



42 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XL 

FEARFUL CASE OF EATING PORK BY A FARMER'S 

FAMILY — WHICH IS ONLY THE STORY 

OF THOUSANDS OF OTHERS. 

In our younger life, we knew a farmer's fam- 
ily, which from being farmers, always had a 
surfeit of pork when the time of pig killing 
came round. 

Of course the children were feasted at these 
times on fresh pork with all its parts and por- 
tions, to say nothing of the adults, as well as 
those good neighbors with whom these commodi- 
ties had been exchanged as convenience and ac- 
commodative remembrances suggested. 

The neighbors — mostly . farmers — managed 
their several times of pig-slaughtering, so that 
between them all, they kept the precious skins 
of the whole coterie distended with pork fat, 
from the beginning of winter to its end. 



Fearful Case of Eating Pork. 43 

They one and all had their fill of the deadly 
stuff — of liver, steak, chops, sausage, plenty of 
"good sweet, crisp crullers," pig ''squan," head- 
cheese, and at the last of the winter, souse and 
smoked hams. Nor do we omit mention of barrels 
of fat pork, all cut up and salted down for use 
during the year, until the time should come 
around at the end of the following autumn for 
repeating this avalanche of corruption. Almost 
innumerable stone pots of lard, which had been 
prepared for a twelve-months' use, were also very 
much in evidence. 

Of 'course the pestiferous food was sure to 
seriously infect all who so plentifully partook 
of it ; and what were the resulting consequences ? 

The children of the family, it was well known, 
were sadly afflicted with a most distressing raw- 
ness of the whole surface of the flesh just be- 
hind the ears. It was a disgusting sight as we 
well remember, for it seemed, as the ear was 
pressed forward that the raw flesh and the bare 
muscles or cords were all exposed to view ; while 
to be so afflicted must have been a most unhappy 
thing to endure. These children when at school, 
drew attention to their condition, telling the 
cause — that "it arose from eating largely of 
sausage" — which, to be sure, was putting it 
somewhat mildly. 



44 Pernicious Pork. 

From this attestation it is now clear, that the 
people at home were very well aware of the 
cause of the evil, and which fact alone is one 
sufficient point in proof of the truth of our 
strictures on pork eating. 

If then, these children were filled to the burst- 
ing point with lard, which worked out profusely 
through the skin at only two visible places, what 
are we to think of the remaining portions of the 
body that were not apparently relieved of the 
surcharge at all? 

That their systems were filled with noxious 
matter is not to be doubted — and that it was 
working mischief if hindered in getting out is 
true — while just here comes in the general in- 
quiry regarding the diabolical, i. e., the polluting 
of the moral nature through the physical, and 
thence consequently the spiritual. 

Of course it all acted upon the adults more 
or less powerfully, according to physical condi- 
tions. Those employed in the open air would 
stand affected differently from those at work 
in the shut up kitchen. Such as were possessed 
of good muscular strength would be touched 
dissimilarly to those of more slender build, while 
in the case of those inheriting a strong, nervous 
nature, further dissimilarity would also exist, 
and of more serious character. 



Fearful Case of Eating Pork 45 

As suggested, the question arises as to how 
the taint of the physical through the unclean, 
acts upon the moral and eventually on the spir- 
itual nature. 

That the moral is most sadly thus influenced, 
cannot for a moment be doubted — evidence 
enough we have of it — and if through degener- 
acy of the physical and the moral, the spiritual 
cannot be affected, then all hitherto have been 
very much mistaken in conclusions. 

The account here given of a single family, 
is only that of thousands of others that have 
lived on our broad and expanding domain for 
nearly three hundred years, so that it is a fair 
question to ask — what has not this astounding 
evil done for the country during this time? 

If the eating of swine flesh engenders ap- 
petite for spirituous liquors in posterity, together 
with accentuated animal propensities, both of 
which are affirmed by authorities, is it any won- 
der that our jails and prisons are, for the greater 
part, filled with the poor and the uninformed 
classes, when it is they, who, through pecuniary 
necessity have been the greater consumers of 
pork, and consequently its most serious victims? 
All this being so, is it not high time that organi- 
zations throughout the country were formed and 
set to work, to the end of utterly banishing so 



46 Pernicious Pork. 

vile a food, before still further dangers shall 
have arisen therefrom? 

The pig has universally been called ''the poor 
man's friend," but alas, how deadly an enemy 
does he prove to be in reality ? 



Philosophical. 47 



CHAPTER XII. 

PHILOSOPHICAL. 

A LITTLE of philosophy may not be out of place 
in a new chapter. 

A man we will suppose, partakes of a hearty 
dinner of pork and presently complains of feel- 
ing queerly, or some other way, he '^cannot de- 
scribe his feelings exactly"— though .thinking 
people come to do so through sensitiveness or 
tribulation — the trouble being, that he had in- 
serted a substance into his stomach, a portion of 
which in due time passed along into the circula- 
tory system. 

The blood then, being the life, and its purity in 
a great measure our strength, we can easily com- 
prehend how the feelings may be affected by 
that of which the blood is composed. 

But the pork influence, with all innocency, 
having gotten into close relations with 
the internal organism, is nov>^ exercising" 



48 Pernicious Pork. 

its legitimate prerogatives by kicking up 
high jinks in the blood. In other words, the 
pig nature of the substance is manifesting 
itself within the man, being something chem- 
ically opposed to his nature. Hence, not only 
the internal turmoil, but consequent gradual 
degeneracy, according to quantities of the sub- 
stance consumed — all this being in vivid contrast 
with the operations of cleanly meats. 



Sad Case of a Young Girl. 49 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SAD CASE OF A YOUNG GIRL. 

The case of a young girl, of which we were 
cognizant, who was thought to have either a 
skin or blood disease — or both— was a sad one. 

Through the eating of much pork, with accom- 
panying gravies, her hands had become so habitu- 
ally festered or suppurated — especially about the 
fingers and the palms, with opened cracks in many 
of the creases — as to have become a most fearful 
affliction; besides being a very saddening sight 
to look upon. 

The horrible cause was not suspected by friends 
or physicians, while the complaint continued to 
hold on more or less for years. 

How much of this sort of thing, it may be 
asked, accounts for many unexplained cases which 
come up from time to time, when a physician 
seems powerless to cure, simply because the reve- 
lation of causes is kept back, innocently, and 



50 Pernicious Pork. 

sometimes otherwise. A medicine given for pol- 
luted blood can be rendered non-effective with all 
the ease in the world by stuffing one's self with 
pork. 



Another Notable Case. 51 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ANOTHER NOTABLE CASE. 

Another family which we knew, that ate freely 
of pork, swallowing a deal of pork gravy, was 
affected differently from any yet mentioned. 

Families will stand affected in this relation ac- 
cording to idiosyncrasy, — ^that is, according to 
physical make up — in delicacy of nerve, solidity 
and robustness of physique, temperament, etc. 
Occupation, too, whether active or sedentary — 
the out-of-door habit always tending to work off 
impurities in the system — most certainly has its 
very potent influence on health. 

The children of the family were affected with 
eruptive sores on nearly all parts of the person 
which suppurated, broke and scabbed, and as fast 
as they healed, and even before, others in adjacent 
places made their appearance. 

Of course, the virulence of the complaint de- 
pended upon the amount of pork ea^en and the 
facility of eliminating it from the system. 



52 Pernicious Pork. 

And just here it may be noted that the four 
major and the four minor points of escape of 
wornout and useless material from the person 
are, through the bowels, the urine, the lungs 
(gaseous) and the skin;— the minor points being 
at the mouth, the nose, the ears and the eyes,— 
amounts ejected through the skin being much 
greater than is ordinarily suspected. 

Some of us, too, get well along in years before 
discovering that at the inner corner of the eye 
are the little ducts that supply the lubricating fluid 
necessary for the smooth and continual movement 
of the eye-lid. 

The disease clung to these children for years, 
and they were treated by all methods that could 
be thought of. Sulphur within was administered ; 
roasting before the big fire-place with externally 
applied brimstone was resorted to, but all to no 
effect. Salves of all descriptions ; cream-of-tartar 
and sulphur, mixed with a sweetened water as 
drink were all of no avail. Everything that popu- 
lar mention could suggest from far and near was 
experimented with, until one M. D., according to 
his best information, pronounced it seven-years- 
itch. Still another physician, who enjoyed a high 
reputation in all the country around, was so baf- 
fled in his attempts at a cure, that in sheer desper- 
ation he termed it 'The Devil's Itch." 



Another Notable Case. 53 

But the vile cause was unsuspected by all ; — ■ 
and if our pulpit teachings in earlier days had 
been possessed of a small sprinkling of the Jewish 
in place of the fatiguing twelfthlies and four- 
teenthlies, the influence of our good Puritan di- 
vines would have been still greater than it was. 

It has been a source of wonder with some in 
present time, that the pulpit essays so little iit 
utterances relative to the physical, when in many 
instances it is questionable eating that lies at the 
bottom of the mischief in connection with dullness 
in the pews. 

A plenty of tea and coffee, with a profusion of 
fat gravies, together with much eating, are not 
conducive to healthful action of the liver; while 
one who is suffering with torpidity of that organ 
is apt to feel ''as if the bottom were dropping out" 
of almost everything. 

Physical exercise and abstinence from the use 
of the above-named things, are the best antidotes 
of the evils they produce. 

These children, it may be said, all inherited a 
very sensitive nature, with proclivity for skin 
disease of some kind — without it were this very 
pork eating which caused the diseased skin ; — at 
any rate, they all "outgrew the disease" when 
they outgrew the habit of eating pork. 

Cause seems to produce effect universally. 



54 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XV. 



STILL ANOTHER CASE. 



We happened about a year since to be in a 
country place, when those we called upon relative 
to business usually dined. We accepted an invi- 
tation to tarry, when lo ! our friends, we found 
had just passed through their annual pig-killing 
period. 

The atmosphere in parts of the house was preg- 
nant with the odors of fresh-pork — and what a 
sensation of warm, greasy, unripe meat was there ! 

If it had been a week old and sprinkled with a 
little salt, we could have more easily put up with 
the conditions ; — and had we partaken of the pork, 
it, to be sure, would have seemed a little better 
than dog or cat, through associative sensations 
when we were in the world — of pig. 

Curiosity to catch the odor of unclean meats 
may be satisfied at any time one cares to take a 
sniff in any of the places where the festive ("all 



Still Another Case. 55 

hot") frankfurter is sold which, as a rule, as has 
been confirmed, is nothing more than dog-sausage, 
horse, or other impure meat ; though the frank 
and half- jocund soubriquet — dog — be applied to 
it by the vender, for the purpose of diverting at- 
tention from the real facts. Its odor betrays it. 

CASE OF A FARMER IN NORTHWESTERN CONNECTI- 
CUT. 

This very day we were told of a farmer m 
northwestern Connecticut, who dearly liked his 
fat pfork. "He would sit down and eat it in quan- 
tities, enjoying it apparently as he could enjoy 
nothing else." But, our informant admitted, upon 
being closely questioned, that the man was most 
sadly afflicted with rheumatism. 

ONE MORE CASE. 

A lady with whom we have long been ac- 
quainted, and whom we knew had abandoned the 
use of pork, writes, stating that at the time of 
giving it up, she was influenced to do so by the 
imperative directions of her physician, who said 
"that for her to use pork was rank poison," from 
the fact of having a taint of erysipelas in the 



56 Pernicious Pork. 

blood. The query here comes in, whether the 
erysipelas itself was not a taint — or worse — con- 
tracted long ago from the impurities contained in 
pork? 



Melancholy Case of a Farmer. 57 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE MELANCHOLY CASE OF A FARMER OF NEW 

JERSEY. 

A GENIAL old man who worked a large farm in 
the vState of New Jersey, having a family of 
grov/n up sons, was sadly given to the over-in- 
dulgence in cold, boiled, fat pork, which had been 
*'salted down." He was a corpulent old fellow 
and was universally liked, while as he advanced 
in years he increased in weight. 

Truth to tell, however, his four sons grown to 
man's estate, stahvart and intelligent, took most 
sadly to drinking whiskey. On their way home 
from their daily labors, they, every night, one 
and all must tarry, in order to have their re- 
spective glass of the ardent ; — while before start- 
ing out again, the second full glass forsooth must 
be indulged in, ere their inherent cravings were 
satisfied. 

Results of breaking down in health before at- 



58 Pernicious Pork. 

taining to middle life are entirely unnecessary to 
record. It is enough to state that a lifelong habit 
of indulgence in polluting food by the sire, mani- 
fested its evil effects later in the sons, which was 
a decidedly inbred appetite for spirituous liquors. 

The theory of thus affecting offspring in the 
extreme use of pork by parents, is testified by 
one authority, — while another states tliat it would 
seem to be a most rational result. 

If then, this is a fair example of that which the 
eating of pork by man will do for offspring, is it 
any wonder as we scan the horizon of Temperance 
work during the last thirty years, that so little 
apparent headway has been made In this time, and, 
too, that the laborers in the cause have had such 
up-hill work of it? Is it not also a hint to them 
to cut off a branch of the mischief by beginning 
work at this late day at the proper place, to wit — 
the pork barrel ? 



Salt Rheum and Erysipelas. 59 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SALT RHEUM AND ERYSIPELAS. 

There are medical writers who state that salt 
rheum and erysipelas are complaints which phy- 
sicians as a rule are puzzled in getting to the bot- 
tom of — that the real causes of the same are un- 
known. 

Let such investigate still closer and then say 
whether or not the poisons contained in the 
various grades of pork and the breeding of disease 
into disease by the use of the same, even in the 
continuous consumption of small quantities from 
day to day, have not played an important part in 
causing these tenacious disorders ; — and truly, if 
the sins of the fathers are ever visited upon the 
children, those in this relation of pork eating must 
certainly be so accounted. 

And are you, young man, and young woman, 
going to taint your precious blood with such a 
substance, for those of the future to be borne 
down with ? 



69 Pernicious Pork. 

There has been a growing disposition for a 
number of years, in what has been called the 
nervous zone or belt of our country, for a cer- 
tain class of young men to care little, as they say, 
for the welfare of posterity, so long as they them- 
selves get "well fixed." 

The reasons for this are many, aside from the 
mad rush for money and success, — to wit, discon- 
tent, selfishness, dissipation and the outgrowing 
of old-fashioned Americanism. The mis-appre- 
ciation, too, of money-making and money-loving 
employers, of some in their hire who are pos- 
sessed of the finer traits of character combined 
with the best intentions — particularly young me- 
chanics and young clerks, is many times nowa-* 
days especially a serious cause of dejection. 

But some, no doubt, will say, that under pres- 
ent conditions, all this must be so ; — and without 
doubt, we are, in these later times, in a kmd of 
transition state, socially and otherwise; while it 
does not just yet appear to what the evolution 
tends. 

However all this may be, who shall say but that 
the abuses of health presently named, are not im- 
portant factors also of the dejective and degen- 
lerative conditions among the classes referred 



What They Say. 61 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

WHAT THEY SAY. 

A FORMER judge says : 'The early New Eng- 
land farmers were inordinately addicted to the 
use of pork, — it was their staple in the way of 
fresh meat, and between the fresh and that which 
had been salted, together with bacon and ham, it 
was present with them from one year's end to 
the other.'' 

A good Baptist deacon states, "that he now re- 
fuses to have the stuff in the house." 

A gentleman tells us in a confidential way that 
he eats but very little pork as compared with what 
he formerly used, confining himself now to a little 
ham and bacon. 

Another testifies that he "long ago shut down 
on having it much about the house." 

A physician says : "It isn't fit to eat ; we scarcely 
ever have it at the house now, except occasionally 
v/h^n the women order a little." 



62 Pernicious Pork. 

An intelligent lady, a trained nurse, says : "I 
cannot like pork because I disapprove of eating it. 
There is no nourishment in the substance ; besides, 
it is not a cleanly meat." 

Here was one who did not like pork because it 
was improper food. The way of the majority is 
the reverse, — if a particular thing is fancied by 
them they will indulge in its use to their decided 
injury. 

And now, is it not clear that it is the poor, who 
have but little access to books, as well as the 
unenlightened, who care but little for them, wdio 
are "going to get left" in this matter, — and what, 
my practical reader, can be done for them ? 



Solid Testimony. 63 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SOLID TESTIMONY BY DOCTOR FRELIGH, AND 
DOCTOR MARCY.* 

In recording further testimony sustaining our 
position, we now come to that of Doctor M. Fre- 
Hgh, and Doctor E. E. Marcy; two late eminent 
homeopathic physicians of New York City; — the 
former noted as a vohiminous and scientific 
wTiter, as well as a general practitioner ; and the 
latter, long and well known for practical and pro- 
fessional acumen ; — also as a noted author, both 
within and outside his profession. 

We may say at the outset, that it is a satisfac- 
tion to read such outspoken truths from the writ- 
ings of these eminent physicians, respecting this 
fearful evil. 

After treating at some length of scrofula and 
its causes, Dr. Freligh goes on to write of un- 

* Doctor E. E. Marcy died on Dec. 28, 1900, 



64 Pernicious Pork. 

wholesome foods as follows: — (p. 387 of his 
"Practice of Medicine," 13th edition.) 

''Under deficient and unwholesome foods, 
pork is the most prominent cause. I will here 
take the liberty of quoting at large from Dr. 
Marcy's 'Practice of Medicine,' to illustrate a 
principle more in conformity with my own views 
as regards the nature and free use of swine 
flesh as an article of food, than anything I have 
yet seen upon the subject. 

" 'Its impurity consists of a disorder of a pure- 
ly scrofulous character, which is inherent and 
peculiar to it, and is constantly being developed, 
especially during confinement and subjection to 
the ordinary modes of feeding. Probably no 
animal is more filthy in its habits, or more dis- 
gusting for its selection of food. Let the pork 
eater contemplate an instant, the customary mode 
of rearing the domestic swine, and observe what 
offal, filth, putridity, scourings from everything 
foul and corrupt, which constantly swell his dis- 
eased carcass. Let him see in the slaughter house 
how often the internal organs and the surface of 
the vile carcasses will be studded with tubercu- 
losis formations, or scrofula, and then return to 
pork, like a dog to his vomit, if he chooses. It 
is absurd to argue that flesh contaminated with 
the scrofulous miasm cannot communicate to thi 



Solid Testimony. 65 

healthy body, after digestion, its morbid parti- 
cles/ As previously stated," continues Dr. Fre- 
ligh, — "the above is in strict accordance with my 
own views, and I will ask further, is it possible 
that the internal organs of an animal can be com- 
pletely studded with scrofulous tumors and in- 
durations, simply as a local affection, independent 
of a general diathesis? — and in the absence of 
fact, is it not reasonable to infer, that when we 
partake of food thus contaminated, it must neces- 
sarily convey to our system an impurity not 
greatly dissimilar to the diathesis of the animal 
from which the flesh was taken? 

"It is only necessary to refer to a chapter on 
animal poisons, in any of our works upon Tox- 
icology, to prove the absurdity of supposing that 
washing, curing, and cooking and digesting, will 
destroy the noxious quality of impure or contam- 
inated flesh. 

"It is further asserted by very respectable au- 
thority, that not a single case of Lepra vulgaris 
ever occurred, which could not be distinctly 
traced to the eating of swine flesh." 



66 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XX. 

REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING QUOTATIONS. 

LEPROSY. 

Now let US put this that the doctors have said 
in our pipes and smoke it ; — dream over it, — 
consider it well and ruminate over the matter if 
we but will ; — for what can a rational person ask 
further? Can any waver in their belief after read- 
ing testimony so weighty, and from authorities 
so eminent? 

Further attempts on our own part would seem 
almost useless, except for the purpose of accentu- 
ation ! 

But Doctor Freligh gives us a hint respecting 
another disease, to wit. Leprosy. It is asserted, 
he says, by very respectable authority, ''that not 
a single case of Lepra vulgaris, (common lep- 
rosy) ever occurred, which conld not be distinctly 
traced to the eating of swine flesh." 

This is a strong and startling statement; for 



Leprosy. 67 

leprosy is a disease which in the present condition 
of the country will soon have to be most seriously 
reckoned with. 

Here are Rheumatism, Leprosy, Consumption, 
Cancer, Whiskey-drinking, Scrofula and other 
things, the cardinal diseases and vices of our 
country, all partially springing from one abom- 
inable source ! 

It is not only astounding but overwhelming, for 
it is now a conceded fact that leprosy is slowly 
creeping over the country from rreny directions. 

It may be inquired, why, if the cause of leprosy 
is pork-eating — which has been a national sin for 
so long a time — why is the country not overrun 
with the disease, rather than, that it is only now 
being slowly brought upon us? 

The answer may be given that time is required 
for this or any similarly acting disorder to get a 
universal foothold. 

Our country, too, being less than three hundred 
years old, we may ask if the far East was overrun 
with leprosy during any period of three hundred 
years? And if the cause of the disease, or one of 
its causes, is the eating of swine flesh, it may be 
suesrested whether the tremendous influx of this 
commodity during the last thirty years is not 
the one great cause of the sudden increase of 
leprosy? It looks very much like it. 



68 Pernicious Pork. 

There are as yet only four or five leper colonies 
and hospitals in the country— though it is noticed 
that one of the Southern States is now clamoring 
for another.* A very few years ago there were 
none at all. 

Total degeneracy on any line requires time for 
accomplishment ; but when it at last prevails, then 
look out — for it will require a vast deal more time 
for its eradication than was taken in the growth. 

It is too much the American way in public 
afiPairs to *1ock the stable door after the horse has 
been stolen." Then generally conies practical re- 
form. But why wait until we are fairly rotten 
with disease before taking action against it? 
Better by far to nip the matter in the bud. 

Leprosy, according to authorities, ''is common 
to both hot and cold climates— is caused by bad 
drainage, dampness, miasm, ill nourishment, etc." 

It is also stated that it is imported along with 
immigrants from leprous countries. 

Some affirm it to be contagious but not heredi- 
tary, while other writers claim it as hereditary 
though not contagious ;— but with Dr. Freligh's 
statement, that ''it is asserted by very respectable 
authority that not a single case of Lepra vulgaris 
ever occurred, which could not be traced to the 

* The Southerners consume quantities of ham and 
bacon. 



Leprosy. 69 

eating of swine flesh," — we at once have some- 
thing positive, rational and probable ; and so long 
as there is this emphatic and responsible affirm- 
ation, with endorsement, it would seem to be the 
part of wisdom to heed the declaration. 

It would be the most natural thing in the world 
for the disease to come from China, for there it is 
generated."^ 

"Imported along with immigrants from leprous 
countries" ? — seems rational ; because the East is 
more or less full of it. ^'Caused by miasm, damp- 
ness and so forth"? — well, in the absence of a 
knowledge of the pollutive nature of pork by 
many more than seven-eighlhs of the people of 
the world — to what else could it have been more 
conveniently ascribed than to the things named ? — 
while possibly they are also real causes. 

There seems to be little testimony in medical 
works and encyclopaedias of leprosy and cancer 
as proceeding from the influence of pork. 

Dr. Freligh's assertion of leprosy is positive 
and significant. Dr. Dowie's testimonies of can- 
cer cannot be passed over lightly, as he evidently 
has had large experience, with critical observa- 
tion ;t — so that, if the world generally has scarcely 
begun to come to a knowled^fe of the Dollutive 



* See quotation of Chinese Leprosy, p. 89. 
f See pages 108, 109 and no. 



70 



Pernicious Pork. 



nature of pork, and, as possibly exemplified in 
leprosy and cancer, it would seem, in just these 
times, to be the part of wisdom for the General 
Government to appoint a corps of medical experts, 
to enter into a practical and thorough investiga- 
tion of the whole matter. 

'There are 131,618 lepers in India" — says the 
World Almanac— '9S,SS2 males and 32,636 fe- 
males. No other country in the world approaches 
India in this respect." 



The following comes to us later and from the 
New York Tribune: — 

Washington, March 24, 1902.— The Secretary 
of the Treasury to-day sent to the Senate the re- 
port of a commission of medical officers of the 
Marine Hospital Service appointed to investigate 
the origin and prevalence of leprosy in the United 
States. The report shows 278 cases of leprosy in 
the United States, distributed by States as fol- 
lows: 



Alabama 
California 
■Florida . . 
Georgia . 
Illinois . . 



I 

24 

24 

I 

5 



Leprosy. 71 

Iowa J. 

Louisiana , j-- 

Maryland j 

Massachusetts 2 

Minnesota 20 

Mississippi - 

Missouri - 

Montana 

Nevada 

New York ^ 

North JJakota * jg 

Oreofon 

^ I 

Pennsylvania , - 

South Dakota j 

Texas 

Wisconsin 

o 

Of the total number, 176 are males and 102 fe- 
males; 145 American born, 120 foreign born, 
and the remainder uncertain. It is said that 186 
of the cases were contracted in the United States, 
but the opinion is expressed by the commission 
that this number is too large, and that some of 
these cases were brought from abroad. 

The commission says that the number of cases 
is smaller than has been generally believed^ It 
is also said that l eprosy is conveyed from one per- 
* It has been reported as high as 900. 



72 Pernicious Pork. 

son to another in the United States, such con- 
veyance being most markedly noticeable in the 
States on the Southern coast ; that a large major- 
ity of the cases in the United States (33 per cent.) 
are at large ; that at present only seventy-two of 
the cases are isolated and provided for by the 
States or cities in which they are located, and that 
many of those now at large, if not all, would be 
willing to be cared for by the public if proper 
provision existed for their treatment and comfort. 
The commission recommends the establishment 
df a retreat for lepers, and expresses the opinion 
that it should be in the arid Southwest, or in a 
similar region further north, or on an island in the 
Gulf of Mexico, or on the Pacific Coast. 

Of the 155 cases reported from Louisiana, loi 
are in New Orleans County and 37 in the leper 
home at Iberville. Of the seven cases in New 
York, four are in Kings County and three in New- 
York County. The commission expresses the 
opinion that the figures do not represent the total 
number of lepers in the country, because the 
loathsome character of the disease causes persons 
affected to conceal it as long as possible. It is 
also said that the disease is most frequently con- 
tracted by inhaling dust where lepers have been 
located. 



A Bad Dose. 73 



CHAPTER XXL 



A BAD DOSE. 



Dr. Dio Lewis in his 'Talks About People's 
Stomachs," made many truthful and witty ob- 
servations. 

It is asked in one chapter, "What viler mixture 
could there be for one's breakfast than coffee, 
fried ham and buckwheat cakes?*' 

Some may wish to inquire, why so? Because, 
first, coffee is very severe on the nerves ; and. Dr. 
Coles, in his book on coffee, states : "The injuri- 
ous effects on the nerves, of coffee and whiskey 
respectively in equal degrees of strength, is much 
greater from the use of coffee." (Let it be 
noted.) 

The nervous system being in a sense about all 
there is to the man, when this is gone he falls 
into a state of pretty general collapse. 

Fried ham ? Well, we need say nothing of ham 
just here, for it is pork, which is sufficient; but 



74 Pernicious Pork. 

as for buckwheat, it causes Intense itching in 
the very pigs when fed to them. The humans 
can abundantly testify the same in their own ex- 
perience with it. 

"Buckwheat is very much lacking in nutritive 
qualities such as starch, sugar, etc. ;" while for 
the poor, the amount of nourishment afforded by 
it is so little as compared with its cost — which 
is small — where is the good of wearing away the 
internal machinery by putting so useless an in- 
gredient into the human hopper when little benefit 
of any kind results therefrom? 

It is doubtless a fact, that the substances we 
eat and drink, not possessing elements of which 
the body is composed, had best be abstained from 
altogether; without they are taken medicinally 
as correctives or for similar purposes ; indeed, 
it becomes a question whether it would not be 
positively injurious to take such useless sub- 
stances into the system. No thinking person, it 
would seem, could wish to do this knowingly, for 
he or she may find edibles in plenty which are 
beneficial without taxing the digestive powers to 
no effectual good. 

In this category can be placed tea, coffee, pork, 
buckwheat, tomatoes, alcohol, cucumbers, string 
beans and other things ; while sawdust might as 
.Well be included as being on about the same foot- 



A Bad Dose. 75 

ing. Wl.at is the difference, it may be asked, 
between the woody fibre in string beans and that 
in sawdust? 

Dr. Lewis gives a list of meats in the order of 
their capacity for brain support as follows : Beef 
is the first named as the best and most potent. 
Next comes veal, which seems a little odd, as 
there are many who consider veal as hardly fit 
to eat — nevertheless, the doctor speaks of ''fitness 
for brain support." Mutton and lamb are rated 
as next in value, while pork, it is stated, ''has 
about nothing for the brain." 



76 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE squire's indigestion. 

A GOOD story from Dr. Lewis we take the liber- 
ty of quoting : 

''Old Squire H was a very successful and 

substantial farmer in an interior town of Massa- 
chusetts, and a more amazing eater never lived in 
any town anywhere. And especially much did he 
eat when fresh pork was to be his nourishment. 
Well, at a certain time one of his hogs had been 
killed. The next morning there was fresh pork 
for breakfast, and the old man ate most won- 
drously. In the course of the forenoon he ate his 
luncheon, consisting of bread and butter, mince^pie 
and cheese. At noon his dinner consisted of fresh 
pork, pickles, mince pie, and the usual accom- 
paniments. His afternoon luncheon was like that 
of the forenoon. When he came home to supper 
his favorite dish had not been prepared as part of 
the meal. The old man fretted and scolded till 



The Squire's Indigestion, 77 

fresh pork had been added to the substantials. 
He ate voraciously as usual. In the evening he 
toasted some cheese, buttered and ate it. Just 
before going to bed, he roasted a couple of apples 
and ate them. In the night he was taken with a 
severe colic. The doctor was with him till morn- 
ing, and nearly wrought a miracle in the old man's 

life. The next day Bolles W , one of his 

neighbors, went in to condole with the old squire. 

'' Taithful Bolles,' said the old worthy, T like 
to have died last night. I'll never eat another 
roast apple as long as I live. I never did like 
them very well, and last night I ate only two, 
and they nearly killed me.' " 



78 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



TAPE-WORM. 



Following is a most practical and scientific ac- 
count of the development of the tape-worm, writ- 
ten by an English physician. The delicacy of 
statement and mastery of idea, will render it in- 
teresting to various classes of readers : 

How THE Tape-Worm is Developed in the 
Hog and Transferred to Man. 

The common tape-worm of man {Taenia 
solium) consists of a very minute "head," at- 
taching itself by suckers and hooks to a man's 
intestines ; of a slender "neck," and of hundreds 
of "joints." Each "joint" is really a semi-inde- 
pendent animal ; and the tape-worm is, therefore, 
a compound animal, and presents us with a colony 
of similar beings. A large tape-worm may 
measure twenty or thirty feet ; and new joints are 



Tape-Worm. 79 

continually being "budded" out from the head and 
neck. 'Hence the physician can never be sure that 
he has cured a case of tape-worm until he has 
seen the head and neck of the animal. If a man 
swallowed the tgg of a tape-worm, he would not 
be infested thereby. The young worm has to 
pass its early life in the body of another warm- 
blooded animal ; and in the case of a common 
tape-worm, it is ''the gintleman that pays the rint" 
which acts the part of nurse or first host. Man, 
in other words, obtains his common tape-worm 
guest from the pig. When this animal swallows 
the egg of a tape-worm, the young worm bursts 
through the egg-case and bores its way to the 
pig's muscles. If the porker is affected by nu- 
merous embryos, that is, if it has swallowed a 
large number of eggs, it will become feverish and 
ill, and it will then be said to have developed 
"measles." The "measles" of the pig are the vis- 
itations of young tape-worms. In the muscles of 
the pig, then, these young worms rest. J'y suis; 
fy reste, is decidedly the motto of the young 
worm. It develops a little head and neck, and it 
also, by way of a tail, produces a little bladder or 
bag. Before naturalists knew its true nature it 
was regarded as a special kind of parasite, and 
was named a "cystic worm." 

If the pig dies a natural death and is respecta- 



80 Pernicious Pork. 

bly interred, or if the pig should Hve long enough 
these youthful tape-worms will respectively per- 
ish or will degenerate and disappear from the 
tissues of the aged porker. But assuming that 
the usual Nem.esis of the pig race overtakes the 
animal, then in the form of pork, it will gladden 
the heart of certain m.embers of the human race. 
Now, let us suppose that a man eats a portion 
of the "measly pork." Let us further suppose 
that the pork has been imperfectly cooked ; then 
comes the "tide of fortune" to the young worms. 
For when the young worm has been eaten by the 
man the bladder-tail drops off. Each little head 
and neck finding itself in the human, recognizes 
its lawful habitat. Each attaches itself to the 
lining membrane of the human intestines and each 
by a process of budding produces joint after joint, 
until man is presented with his matured "guest." 
The great lesson to be learned from our survey 
of parasites is care in the choice and increased 
care in the cooking of our food. It should be 
remembered that the germs of these parasites art 
killed by a sufficiently long exposure to heat. 
Hence, while underdone meat may have its 
charms, it has likewise its grave dangers. Pork 
in any and every fashion, should at all times be 
thoroughly cooked. In this latter case, the para- 
sitic horde may not merely be destroyed, but may 



Tape-Worm. 81 

even contribute in a microscopic way to human 
nutrition. — Dr. Andrezu Wilson, F. R. S. F. 



Dr. J. Ellis, an eminent authority, states: — that, 
"undoubtedly the most frequent cause of tape- 
worm in man, is the use of measly pork, which 
contains these worms in one stage of their de- 
velopment. If fresh measly pork is fed to the 
dog, tape-worms are developed in his intestines, 
and if joints of the tape-worm, which contain 
ova or eggs, at maturity, are fed to the pig, they 
cause measly pork. 

"Tape-worms are quite common in dogs and 
various other animals, and it is supposed also, 
that they may sometimes be developed in the in- 
testines of man by his swallowing their eggs 
which are voided by such animals, in his food and 
drink. 

*^ He * * * ]3ut it is undoubtedly true, that 
man contracts tape-worm far more frequently 
by eating imperfectly cooked flesh of animals, 
generally of the pig, which contains them in a 
stage of imperfect development." 



82 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

A SHORT CHAPTER WORTH READING. 
ONION. 

Doctor G. M. Beard, whose work is published 
by the Putnams, of New York, says : 

''The bacon of England and Ireland is superior 
to that of America, but it is nowhere the best kind 
of meat. It contains so much fat that only the 
hardy can digest it in large quantities. 

'•'Pork, fresh or salted, is an article of diet that 
ought to disappear — and is disappearing before 
civilization. 

"For centuries it constituted the leading article 
in the dietary of Europe, but with the advance of 
culture and improvement in the race, the desire 
for it is diminished. So thoroughly unfashion- 
able is even fresh pork in our large cities, that a 
hotel or boarding-house that should provide din- 
ner in which pork should be the only meat, 



Onion. 83 

would soon be empty ; while fried salted pork is 
reserved for the especially poor." 



This is pretty hard on the poor, to be sure. And 
as a substitute for pork, let the poor — or any — re- 
sort to the onion as food ; which, variously 
treated, alone or in combination with other 
things, both animal and vegetable, as ingenuity 
may suggest, is more strengthening and health- 
giving, a hundred times over, than pork or any 
other meat. 

They are beneficial fried, roasted, baked or 
boiled ; but in the raw state are too hard of diges- 
tion, and too forceful of odor for most people. 

The sensitive and the weakly may be cautioned 
about taking too strong a do'se for the nerves to 
bear. 

And with regard to odor, it is believed there is 
none proceeding from any of them, with the ex- 
ception of those eaten in the raw condition ; and 
further, that a glass of milk will prove an anti- 
dote in any case. 

Onion is one of the greatest health and nerve 
strengtheners of any food that can be named ; 
but for a steady diet should not be used in large 
quantities. It is at once stimulative and soothing 
■ — a rare combination of qualities. 



84 Pernicious Pork. 

A favor may be conferred by the benevolent 
upon any who are unable to buy books — provided 
they are not aware of the facts— by imparting to 
them this statement of the onion. 



The Chinese Nation and Leprosy. 85 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE CHINESE NATION AND CHINESE LEPROSY. 

If it is thought that the eating of unclean 
things from generaj;ion to generation can be in- 
dulged in without evil results, then let us direct 
our pointed attention to the Chinese nation and 
note what we find. 

And who, among the older readers of this page, 
does not remember that familiar wood-cut in the 
school books of many years ago : "A Chmaman 
selling rats and puppies for pies"? This, no 
doubt, was representative of existing conditions, 
as the Chinese are reputed to have eaten all sorts 
of revolting things— serpent, lizard, rat, toad, cat, 
snail and pig— presumably everything they could 
well lay their hands to. 

This is almost, universally their reputation at 
the present time, and what results are reported? 
Not only a flabby, unhealthful and spiritless na- 



86 Pernicious Pork. 

tion, but one having a sallow tinge of the color 
of the skin besides — so much so that they are 
called the yellow men of the world. 

Can it be that they have so become, from the 
effects of unclean eating throughout the cen- 
turies ? 

Stranger things there might be than this. 

It is said of the fishes in the pools of the 
Mammoth Cave, that through the necessitated 
disuse of their eyes, they in time came to have no 
eyes at all; only the blank suggestion of that 
which once was — and why should not a long con- 
tinued abuse of some of the internal organs — the 
liver in particular — come at last to be a kind of 
second nature, even if the liver be somewhat ab- 
normal in action. 

The Chinese whom we are accustomed to see 
in our country, give the impression of possessing 
neither ruggedness nor health. Compare them, 
for example, with the powerful North American 
Indian, formerly — and now, in many instances — 
so full of character and integrity ; with whom and 
the Chinese, some of the older historians tell of 
possible race connections. It is doubtful if he was 
addicted to eating the unclean— without it were 
wild game— though in this connection some of his 
enemies like to charge the canine against him. 
But where, it may be asked, is there any account 



The Chinese Nation and Leprosy. 87 

of his having inherited either Bible or Bible teach- 
ing? His behef in, and worship of the "Great 
Spirit," as well as the hope for existence after 
death in the "Happy Hunting Grounds," were 
vastly nearer the correct than any other heathen 
or savage ever approached. 

The Christian practically had the law of clean 
and unclean laid down for him good and strong, 
but he seemed either to overlook or disdain it; 
while the Israelite, as he scans the situation, can 
now afford to stand and laugh in his sleeve. 

What Confucius may have said for the Chinese 
in this relation, if anything, is obscure; but in 
all probability one thing is quite certain — that 
had they always been correct in their alimentary 
usage, they would not in their late unpleasant- 
ness with the spirited "Jap" have fallen so easy a 
prey to his wiles as they did. Forty millions set- 
ting at naught four hundred millions, seems to 
have been ''about the size of it ;" and with the sea 
between them at that! 

Can it be doubted that the Chinese through 
improper alimentary habits, have so degenerated 
as to be unable to stand successfully against a 
foe? For it is inconceivable that they have al- 
ways existed in their present condition. 



88 Pernicious Pork. 

Witness then the alert, intelUgent, island in- 
habiting Japanese, and the sturdy beef-eating 
John Bull, also an island inhabiter ; both are con- 
stantly subjected to those vital and life-giving 
products of the sea — iodine and phosphorus — 
together with the purifying and tonic effects of 
salt, and especially of the salty breezes of the 
ocean. These chemicals, one and all, are most 
strengthening to the human system, and, when 
fenjoyed in combination, as is the case with the 
island inhabiters generally — are trebly so. 

All these, we fancy, together with hard work 
and correct habits, will combine to make what is 
termed the Iron Constitution ; not only in present 
time but especially in posterity. 

Inherent toughness of nerve is worth more 
than toughness of muscle. Toughness of muscle 
is a good thing to be possessed of, but is good for 
very little after the nerves have finally given out. 

As a rule those who proceed to get up their 
health, "go in" at once for muscular improvement 
—most excellent, to be sure— but how few seem 
to care to understand the nerves ! 

It is intensely American to be continually con- 
spiring with the Evil One, for the purpose of 
breaking down the Nervous System — so it would 
seem. 



The Chinese Nation and Leprosy. 89 

The Israelites and the Chinese appear to have 
been in their dietary habits, totally antipodal ; the 
former keeping steadfastly to the clean, the latter 
to the unclean ; and what is the respective out- 
come ? 

With the Jews we find their women ''have the 
most healthful and handsome appearing com- 
plexions of the daughters of earth;" wliile the 
men, it is said, are never known to Lave skin dis- 
ease — presumably those arising from eating the 
unclean— without it be the renegade Jews, who 
are comparatively few in numbers, and who eat 
pork; for there must necessarily be exceptions 
to all rules. 

The Chinese, on the other hand, are reputed — 
as has been stated — to be in the habit of eating 
many vile things, while they, more than others, 
*'are afflicted with the most insidious forms of 
leprosy, the most difficult of eradication," and 
this quotation tells their whole sad story. 



Since writing the last few pages we came upon 
an extended article on China, from which we 
briefly quote : 

'The average Chinaman has lost mental initia- 
tive, and the moral forces which once shaped 
China, having utterly decayed, are to-day inert." 



90 Pernicious Pork. 

Here we have it — China to-day is not what she 
was in ancient times either in mental grasp or 
moral power. The reasons, without doubt, are 
physical, through ignorance of a proper dietary. 



Law Against Sale of Hoi?se Meat. 91 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

HORSE MEAT. 
LAW IN NEW YORK AGAINST ITS SALE. 

It is perfectly fruitless argument to attempt 
to maintain, that because any particular animal 
eats cleanly things only, that its flesh conse- 
quently becomes a cleanly article of food. Most 
certainly, according to common thinking it would 
seem so to be ; and that cleanly ingredients should 
produce results to correspond, would appear to 
have common sense to bear out the supposition. 

As a matter of fact, however, this is not the 

case. 

The most that can be said of it perhaps is, that 
the eventual production, i.e., the animal flesh, will 
be that which the nature of the animal operating 
causes it to be; the cleanly animal producing 
cleanly meat, and the unclean one, the uncleanly ; 
although both may eat the same kinds of food. 



92 Pernicious Pork. 

From this seemingly there is no appeal. 

It is also clear, that the different characteristics 
of clean and unclean, must, in the economy of 
nature, have their respective utilities. 

The horse, then, of all other animals, is the 
most particular about his food of any we now 
remember. 

His is a rational diet of oats, corn, grass, 
vegetables and hay — the purest in his eating of 
all the animals ; while of that which he drinks he 
is most fastidious — no slops, no muddy or impure 
water for him — no, no. 

Yet horse meat is not fit to eat ! 

It is unclean because it was created so to be. 

The horse neither chews the cud nor divides the 
hoof. 



The French people, it is said, eat many vile 
things. 

Whether they learned to eat horse meat during 
the siege of Paris when they were so shut in that 
proper food was not obtainable, does not appear; 
but if so, and they learned the lesson so well that 
they now have no compunctions about continuing 
the little game, may account for the following 



Law Against Sale of Horse Meat. 93 

statement which we read in a pubhc print in the 
year 1900: 

'The Parisian shambles received and consumed 
in a single year the following items : 

''26,66y horses for slaughter, 52 mules and 31 
donkeys. 

''One mule and 13 donkeys, with 734 horses 
were condemned as unfit for human food. 

"Retail prices in the markets were as follows: 

"For prime cut of horse, 18 cents per pound. 

"For steaks, 10 cents per pound/' 

The attempts which have been made at various 
times in New York City to foist horse meat upon 
the market have met with decided rebuff from the 
authorities — to their praise be it said — but it is 
strongly hinted among certain dealers in related 
things, that the evil has not yet been wholly 
stamped out. 

Should it be found by any as being practiced 
"on the sly," such would confer a favor on the 
community generally by reporting the same to 
either a leading newspaper or to the proper 
officials.* 

A word of disinterested evidence touching the 

* We have lately been informed that a deal of horse 
meat is sold in New York under the guise of smoked 
beef, and which is much more tender than the genuine. 



94 Pernicious Pork. 

subject, is taken from an evening paper, and as 
follows : 

The Relief of Ladysmith. 

Durban, March 2, 1900. — The newspaper cor- 
respondents who have reached here from Lady- 
smith say that the enthusiasm of the garrison 
and inhabitants of the besieged town was intense 
when the relieving column entered. Men left the 
hospital and even the women and children went 
forth to greet the newcomers. It was noticeable, 
however, that the latter were the more demonstra- 
tive, cheering the women and children whom they 
were proud to have saved. 

Sad sights were often witnessed when the 
sparse rations were being drawn. Children would 
pathetically seek milk for their sick mothers. The 
women and children were estimated at five hun- 
dred. Though there zvas much sickness arising 
from the horse meat diet and the absence of fari- 
naceous food, the epidemic period was passed 
safely. 



"Much sickness arising from the horse meat 
dietr Why so, if the meat is a proper food? 



Law Against Sale of Horse Meat. 95 

Law in New York City Against the Sale of 
Horse Meat. 

We are unable to 3tate to what extent the sale 
of horse meat has been barred otit in the various 
cities of the Union, but it is a fact that it is car- 
ried on under various guises in places where it 
is little suspected of being found. 

And seriously, should not all uncleanly articles 
used as food, be subjected to the control of the 
law, as well as those items of every-day use — • 
milk, butter, and a nunber of other things, which 
it is customary with some to adulterate? 

For quite a while now, there has been in force 
in New York, an ordinance forbidding the sale 
of the article under consideration. 

''Section 86 of the Sanitary Code of New York 
City, zvas amended on February 6, igoi, by the 
Board of Health positively forbidding the sale 
of horse meat anyzvhere zvithin the boundaries 
of Greater New York." 

The arbitrary power of the boards of health is 
greater than that of almost any other governing 
body. 

This is as it should be. Every health board 
in the country that is without the spirit of the 
above amendment, will do well to follow the ex- 
ample of ''the metropolis" in this particular. 



96 Pernicious Pork. 



A Climax of the Abominable. 

The subjoined quotation, which speaks for 
itself, was found in an evening newspaper some 
months subsequent to the writing of this chapter. 
If the statements therein made are truthful, our 
suspicions regarding the French people in con- 
nection with eating the unclean, are well founded ; 
however much we would have preferred to let 
them down easy. 

Board of Health in Paris to Build a Slaugh- 
ter House for Equines. 

Paris, June 7, 1901.— The practice of selling 
horseflesh has become so widespread among Paris 
butchers, that the Board of Health is taking 
steps to build a slaughter house where horses 
alone will be admitted. In this way, all animals 
can be subjected to a rigorous examination, 
whereas at present, herded with the cattle, any 
horse able to stand on his decrepit legs is passed 
as good for market. 

At the Villette slaughter house, over eighty 
horses are killed per day, the majority being the 
sorriest specimens of rejected cab and carriage 
horses, for which two or three dollars have been 



Law Against Sale of Horse Meat 97 

paid per head. It is to this inferior class of 
horses, and not to the principle of eating horse- 
flesh, that the Board of Health objects. 

Under such circumstances, instead of being 
styled 'The Board of Health," a more fitting 
term would seem to be, the Board of Death. 

What the French people need, much more than 
horse meat is, in one way or another, to get some 
good English ''horse sense" into their make up. 



98 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE DECAY AND FALL OF THE NATION. 

There are those who tell us that the decay of 
our American Nation, following the lead of most 
others, has actually, thus early begun ; and that it 
is only a question of time when the fair fabric 
shall ''totter to its fall." 

Well, — if this be so, thus much can be said 
about it — that great will be the fall thereof. For- 
tunately, however, when the seeds of destruction 
heretofore have been found implanted in our 
American soil, the m'eans of eradication have been 
at hand, particularly when the people have be- 
come thoroughly enlightened and aroused as to 
conditions. 

They have been quick to grasp proper methods 
for destroying evils, with their own practical 
hands — for, to say that one is a genuine American 



The Decay and Fall of the Nation. 99 

is but another way of saying tliat he is practical. 
Referring to various alleged and simple causes 
of the fall of the Roman Empire, they were noth- 
ing in comparison with those that now menace the 
welfare of this fair land of which we are all so 
boastful,— such, too, as may be eradicated if every 
individual will but so elect. 

Those which are here mentioned are now play- 
ing with full force against the health and strength 
of the whole country, sapping its very vitals. 

They are recorded in the order of their magni- 
tude. 

No^ I.— The ill treatment by many of the re-pro- 
ductive nature, — probably seventy-five 
per centum of all sickness and disease 
being results. 
No, 2. — The drinking of spirituous liquors. 
No. 3. — Breathing impure air. 
No. 4. — Eating pork and its adjunctive parts. 
No_ ^, — The use of tobacco in its various forms. 
No. 6. — Drinking tea and coffee. 
No. 7. — Insufficient exercise and hard work, by 

very many. 
No. 8. — Excessive eating; — most people eat 

double the quantity of food needed. 
No. 9.— Want of bathing by the masses and 
others. 

L.cfC. 



100 Pernicious Pork. 

REMARKS. 

Numbers 2 — 4 — 5 — 6 and 7 are greatly condu- 
cive to No. I. 

Number 6 is a far-reaching evil. 

No. 3 is very conducive to ill health ; but letting 
in air directly from the outside in cold weather is 
a dangerous thing to do. 

The cold towel-bath, used night and morning, 
throughout the entire year is, with a plenty of 
coarse-towel (buck) massage, one of the finest 
nerve tonics and health builders there is. 



Dangers of Heedlessness. 101 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DANGERS OF HEEDLESSNESS REGARDING 
SANITATION. 

Since we have turned towards Sanitation in the 
last few pages, the opportunity may be improved 
by continuing in that direction with some state- 
ments of fact of which we were cognizant. 

A clergyman with whom we had a slight ac- 
quaintance, had a great desire to own and care 
for a farm. He presently found one located to 
his wishes, which he purchased after giving up 
his pulpit. As he proceeded in his work he grew 
robust, coarser in look and rapidly filled up with 
blood ; so that many of his friends on meeting him 
were almost unable to recognize their former 
pastor. 

When he tired of farming, after about twenty 
years, and sought and re-gained his former work, 
he actually succumbed to typhoid fever in less 
than six months ; so violent was the contrast be- 



102 Pernicious Pork. 

tween active and non-active habits— and so dan- 
gerous is it to totally give up outdoor air and 
labor for ihe confinement of close rooms. 

Just here some may be minded to inquire, why, 
then, do so many of sedentary habits live as long 
as they dcn-they being non-actively in-doors the 
greater part of the time ? 

The answer is, that many of them live long 
lives, but do not much more than half live ;— for 
the most part they simply exist, and groan about 
the miseries of life. 

And why should they not groan when much of 
the impurity in the body is kept from being prop- 
erly forced out of the system through labor 
and exercise ; thus plying its abnormal effects in- 
directly upon the nerves, which are the seat of all 
feeling. Such conditions exert a morbid influ- 
ence, too, upon the mind. 

With many of the sedentary, their habits of 
non-activity become a kind of second nature ;— 
many times, however, they are strong enough to 
worry along until either sickness or a revolution 
of habit overtakes them ; or, perhaps they get just 
sufficient exercise and pure air to worry on. 

Man non-active becomes an offensive sort of 
being, provided he keeps on eating. He must 
have action in order to keep pure in body and 
mind. 



Dangers of Heedlessness. 103 

The country-living man, who enjoys pure, rich 
breathing-air and active habits ; working out im- 
purities of all sorts at the pores of the skin 
continually, ought to be among the most phys- 
ically happy of men. 

At the fall of Adam, the fate pronounced upon 
mankind was, "by the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
eat bread." This, as related to antecedent con- 
ditions, was in the nature of a curse ; but as mat- 
ters have been since, it may be understood — by 
the sweat of the brow shalt thou live to the best 
physical advantage ; — and this under changed re- 
lations must be accounted a positive blessing. 

ANOTHER CASE. 

A very saddening case came to my attention a 
few years ago, of a strong, healthful young man 
of twenty-three, who went from the back-country 
to the village to live during the winter; whose 
sleeping apartment was literally a ''seven-by-nine" 
bed-room. It had therein but one window, and, 
of course, a door. He shut himself into the place 
each night as he slept, both door and window be- 
ing pretty thoroughly air tight. 

The poor fellow, through ignorance of health 
laws, from going into this trap in the autumn, 
came out in the spring with typhoid, and before 



104 Pernicious Pork. 

the flowers of May were fully in bioom, they 
claimed him as their companion of the ground. 



In our own profession of architecture, 
such matters, we find, are not sufficiently 
heeded, though there are great numbers 
of the community who are refreshingly alive 
to the benefits of proper ventilation— not 
only of the sleeping apartment, but of 
all others,— while numerous are the simple de- 
vices by which they themselves many times se- 
cure the same. 



Doctor Dowie and His Sayings. 105 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE REV. DOCTOR DOWIE AND HIS SAYINGS. 

The Reverend J. A. Dowie, according to ac- 
counts, is a Scottish clergyman, who became what 
is known as a Divine Healer, and is now pastor of 
a large church of his own gathering of that be- 
lief in Chicago. He also had a church previously 
in Australia. 

In his present position he has had phenomenal 
success, his parishioners numbering among the 
thousands. 

In church methods, reports tell of the adoption 
of those of Apostolic times ; of sending out men, 
two and two, and by seventies ; more or less, into 
all parts of the world. Doctrines promulgated 
are, those of ''preaching the Gospel" and "heal- 
ing the sick." As Christ preached and healed, 
''following in His footsteps, so will He heal now; 
— He being the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever." 



106 Pernicious Pork. 

Such is what we read and hear. 

Doctor Dowie, in his philosophy, opposes chris- 
tian science and spirituaHsm ; while those who 
differ with him otherwise, he is rather denuncia- 
tory of. This we suspect may account for the ex- 
treme opposition he meets with in some quarters. 

"Pioneers never wear kid gloves," seems to be 

his motto. 

What we have to say of the reverend gentle- 
man, however, is, with regard to his utterances on 
the subject of pork eating; which, without doubt, 
are the most pronounced of anything of the kind 
ever written. 

They also have the ring of truth and common 

sense. 

Let us give a few quotations from his writ- 
ings :— 

"This afternoon I would as soon preach to a 
goat as to a man or woman full of pork." 

"Oh, how I have been thrilled this last week 
with the cry from China, where the smoke and 
the filthiness of opium and tobacco and swine's 
flesh are going up all of the time, and the Mission- 
aries tell me the saddest stories of the moral and 
physical condition of the Chinese people. That^ 
ancient empire is rotton to the core with disease." 



Doctor Dowie and His Sayings. 107 

''Men and women nozv living are cursing the 
days their parents ate so much pork." 

"Of all the things that defile the body, there 
are none more far-reaching in deadly corruption 
than the breeding of disease into disease, over 
and over again by this horrible hog!" 

"Let me tell you of Chicago who eat pork, 
that many of these hogs have been fattened on 
human flesh. They feed dead human bodies to 
them. I know it. Hogs have begun to acquire 
a taste for human flesh, increasing year by year, 
until there is not a mother in the hog-growing 
districts who would dare leave her child within 
reach of one of these animals." 



"Let me tell you further, that swine are eating 
dead carcasses, not only of horses, but of human 
beings; — and I want to know — is that man pa- 
triot, Christian or lover of his fellowmen, that 
brings such an article of food into Chicago and 
sells it in the shambles f 

"Are these men lovers of God and lovers of 
men who are selling and packing and sending to 
the ends of the earth this disease producing 
food?" 



108 Pernicious Pork. 

"1 hold the eating of swine's flesh responsible 
to-day for blindness, for paralysis, for many dis- 
eases of the stomach and the bowels, for scrofula, 
for all kinds of tumors, for cancer, rheumatism, 
consumption, for countless deaths and for immor- 
ality. Is the indictment enough?" 

Doctor Dowie goes on preliminary to preaching 
a sermon on pork-eating, as follows: 'Triends, 
I have mapped out for myself a tremendous sub- 
ject. I have been considering it for a great many 
years. I have ministered twenty-one years to the 
sick ; and in addition to the laying on of hands, 
which sometimes has reached 100,000 times in a 
year, I have had for many years a correspondence 
embracing all lands, well nigh all tongues, and I 
have seen diseases of every kind, running up into 
the million. I think I have some little right to 
talk, and to deliver my first sermon full tilt with 
the sword of the Spirit, against tie American 
hog, against the British hog, against the Aus- 
tralian hog, against the hog in every form as an 
article of human food. 

"Let me call your attention to a fundamental 
thought here ; so many people say 'well, the hog 
is just as God made it !'— and that passes for the 
truth at once." 



Doctor Dowie and His Sayings. 109 

He goes on to point out that man is not now 
as he was originally made, and that "various ani- 
mals are not as they were at first created ;" — but 
the facts stand out clear that God made swine's 
flesh unclean because He chose so to do, and for a 
purpose which He Himself well understood, — 
and He had the goodness to give us notification of 
the fact of its unclean nature, while furthermore 
commanding that we should leave it severely 
alone, charging a purifying in case of disobe- 
dience. 

Testimony was given in relation to a Jewess 
who ate pork '*on the sly," until it produced can- 
cer! "Her case was brought to my attention in 
New York," says Dr. Dowie, "by my friend 

R B . I said, bring her, and I will ask 

her a question which will confirm what you know 
I have taught. I know that woman has eaten 
pork." 

"Doctor, you cannot know it." 

"I do know it, it is a general principle that has 
no exception. Bring her." 

"She came. The first question I asked her 
was : — 

" 'Madame, have you broken the law of your 
God and your fathers in eating swine's flesh?' 
She started." 



110 Pernicious Pork. 

"I never heard that question from a Christian ; 
all Christians eat swine's flesh." 

*'I said : You are mightily mistaken ; it is only 
fools that eat swine's flesh, whether they are 
Christians or Jews;— but let me tell you more, it 
is sin to eat it, for it produces disease.' " 

"I know it," she said. 

"Now tell me if you have eaten it." 

"Yes," she said, ''and my father before me. 
We have been very fond of swine's flesh, and have 
therefore lived away from our fellow-Jews ; but 
alas, many of them eat it, too. Do you think this 
has anything to do with the cancer?" 

"I said, 'Madame, I have seen thousands of 
cancers; I have never seen a Jewess in^all my 
experience with a cancer, until I saw you." 

"Owen's College, Manchester (Eng.), declares 
respecting the hospital which was attached to it 
over twenty-five years ago, that there is not a 
known case of cancer among orthodox Jews, not 
one." 

"I will add to it my own experience, which is 
larger than that of Owen's College. Larger, per- 
haps, than that of any other man on earth to-day, 
and I will say that / have never met one case ^ of 
cancer in an orthodox Jezv in the whole world," 



Doctor Dowie and His Sayings. Ill 

'The hog under the Mosaic dispensation was 
declared to be unclean ; unfit for human food, and 
not to be bred by God's people." 

"I want to call your attention to a remarkable 
fact that is given by my missionary friends in 
Turkey, in Persia and elsewhere; that wherever 
the law of Mohammed is obeyed, and swine flesh 
is not eaten, cancer and scrofula are absolutely un- 
known. Whatever other diseases may be there 
throfugh the transgressions of the people, these 
diseases are entirely unknown." 

Referring to the physical condition of his ad- 
herents, of whom all refuse to touch pork, Doctor 
Dowie states : — 

'There is a marked clearness of skin and 
healthfulness of flesh in those who have now for 
years abandoned the use of swine's flesh among 
us, — and there is greater spiritual power.* 

"We have become profoundly convinced that 
the death rate of this country is aggravated by 
these scrofulous diseases, and by cancers that are 

* Thus it is once more shown, that those who adhere 
strictly to the' healthful, the cleanly and the correct 
generally, cannot but in time come to have a clear skin 
and a healthful look. 



112 Pernicious Pork. 

directly attributable to this eating of swine's flesh, 
with the co-operation of nicotine and alcohol." 

Says an informant of Dr. Dowie, with reference 
to families living in the ''black belt" of Missis- 
sippi, which had consumed pork as food "from 
away back" : — ''I found that for a number of gen- 
erations, more than half of one family had died 
of Cancer, and several of the family were suffer- 
ing from cancer then." 

''These people of the black belt look savagely 
out of their eyes ; and when you compare the ex- 
pression of their eyes with that of the eyes of the 
hog, the look of the two is identically the same." 

"Are we not morally and physically made of 
that which we eat and drink ?" 

"I am well satisfied that the worst crimes are 
committed where the people are great consumers 
of pork."-*" 

Doctor Dowie continues at great length in his 
strictures, — and we can re-produce only a small 
part of that which he states. Suffice it to say, that 
with another quotation we shall close the matter. 

* Notice it. (The writer.) 



Doctor Dowie and His Sayings. 113 

The country is certainly under great obligations 
to Doctor Dowie for his valuable and unstinted 
declarations in this matter of pork eating. 



"trichinosis." 



"We have a form of disease among us, which 
is insidious, and people give it no name. They 
call it by its effects. They do not call it by its 
cause." 'They come to me," says Dr. Dowie, 
"great massive men who have been on the rail- 
ways, great mountains of giant strength, here 
they come, shrunken in flesh and withering away. 
When I begin to examine, I find they have lost as 
many as a hundred pounds, and in some cases are 
literally shrunken up. They say 'Consumption'— 
Consumption. It is no consumption, if by that 
they mean tuberculosis. 

"These wretched, miserable parasites (Trichinia 
spiralis) that principally fasten upon the muscles, 
dig out the whole man. They leave him an empty 
shell, just as the weevil gets into corn and eats it 
right out, leaving the husk. 

"All over this land there are hundreds of thou- 
sands of people dying of what is called tubercu- 
losis and rheumatism. It is no rheumatism at all, 
nor tuberculosis, nor any of the names you have 



il4 Pernicious Pork. 

given it. It is Trichinosis; — it is from eating 
swine's flesh." 



Pretty plain talk this, — and what is to be done 
about it? It seems like a pestilence or night- 
mare. 

Will you now tell us that you were never 
harmed through the eating of pork by your fore- 
fathers — did any of them die from cancer, con- 
sumption or rheumatism — and is the world get- 
ting off ''scot-free" when there are ten thousand 
times more pounds of pork consumed in these 
later days than at any previous time in its history? 
'How is it about those inherited complaints that 
the people like to talk about continually? Isn't it 
high time we ceased talking and began doing 
something about it? 

It is utterly amazing how men and women will 
put any and everything that comes along down 
their throats, provided some one says to do so, 
and provided also that such things are sufficiently 
gilded, glossed or sweetened. 



The Latest,- -Snake- Fed Ham. US 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE LATEST, SNAKE-FED HAM. 

Here we have it again in varied form for much 
the worse, in snake-fed ham, — decidedly rich to- 
be-sure; — and if there is a facetious or sarcastic 
side of the matter we may possibly be indulged 
therein, in the present chapter. 

As if scrofula, rheumatism and consumption 
were not enough, the festive snake must forsooth 
put in an appearance to help out the pork eater 
in his darling dish. Seemingly all the off scouring 
of the earth must go down his devoted gullet. 

And what, dear reader, is to hinder you from 
getting a good bite of the "elegant stuff" in the 
very next parcel of pork you receive? Be care- 
ful, — snake-fed ham or pork, contaming the pure 
essence of pig and snake in combination is as 
likely as anything else to be your portion. 

What could be so desirable to have served at 



116 Pernicious Pork. 

table as the extract of ^wa^^f— probably the vilest 
imaginable substance!! 

But here we have the statement : — 

SNAKE-FED VIRGINIAN HAM. 

"Snakes as food for hogs beat chestnuts, 
acorns, or any of the fancy food-stuffs," said 
Henry Arbuthnot, at the Metropolitan last night. 
''Of course you know that in some parts of Eu- 
rope pigs have killed out the vipers. I was in 
West Virginia some months ago and found there 
that a novel industry had been undertaken by a 
number of men whose lands were overrun by 
the small variety of snake that infest that section. 
The snakes were so numerous as to be a nui- 
sance. One farmer tried the hog as an exter- 
minator. He succeeded so well that he found 
the drove of animals he had turned loose on the 
plantation had not only decreased the number of 
snakes, but they were actually thriving on them. 
He told his neighbors about it, and now the 
whole valley is one large hog-pen, in which hun- 
dreds of the animals are feeding literally on 
snakes. Formerly no one would buy land there, 
notwithstanding the beauty of the place, because 
of the snakes, but now that the remedy has been 
found, and at the same time big money is made 



The Latest, — Snake-Fed Ham. 117 

on the pigs that grow fat on snake food, the land 
is destined to be in great demand, as it is the most 
fertile land in West Virginia. This may sound 
like a fairy snake tale, but I assure you that it is 
correct, and that hundreds of pigs are sold from 
that valley every year that have literally become 
fat on snakes." — Washington Post. 



It is refreshing to learn that the pig is of some 
use in the world, and in a new capacity of clear- 
ing snake grounds. "And do you hear this now" 
— that "big money is made on the pigs that grow 
fat on snake food ?" This is all that seems to be 
necessary in some quarters nowadays — that 
some one shall be enabled to make "big money" 
at the expense of your health and mine. 

The question remaining to be answered is, who 
shall get the largest dose of this extra supply 
of the essence of pork and the quintessence of 
snake in combination? 

It is just as likely to be one as another, it de- 
pending a good deal upon who is in the pork- 
swim ; and will some one tell us, if possible, 
what new and virulent disease will extra fat pork, 
bred from snake food, bring upon us ? 



118 Pernicious Pork. 

"Thou art cursed" — is that which was once 
pronounced upon one very notable snake; while 
his disease giving proclivities have, in all proba- 
bility not yet abated in the least. 



Garbage-Fed Pork. 119 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE PUBLIC REALLY TAKING HOLD OF THE SUB- 
JECT. Gx\RB AGE-FED PORK. 

That the enormity of this vile state of things 
is really attracting public attention, is attested by 
the following statement which may serve as pre- 
cedent for every town government in the country. 

OBJECT TO GARBAGE. 

"Towns adjoining New Haven, Conn., have 
taken action similar to that of towns about Hart- 
ford in agreeing to forbid the bringing of gar- 
bage from the city into their territory. The ac- 
tion is ordered by the health boards of Hamden, 
North Haven and East Haven. The objection 
is made on hygienic grounds, chiefly because 
the city garbage is fed to pigs and is believed to 
cause disease, which when the pigs become pork 
is transmitted to human beings. The subject is 



120 Pernicious Pork. 

attracting much attention, and a bill forbidding 
the sale of garbage-fed pork will be introduced in 
the next legislature." 



But why draw the line at garbage-fed pork ? 

iHaven't your ancestors during the last 250 
years been feeding as bad or worse things to the 
pigs which they have bred and eaten during this 
time, such as the entrails of poultry and hundreds 
of worse things too disgusting to name; and 
why, pray, has all this never been acted upon be- 
fore? 

An outcry neither public nor private, in all 
this period of time has hardly been raised or 
heard; while, comparatively speaking, every one 
has gone on eating the bad stuff and calling it 
good. 

But really, gentlemen, your course is highly 
commendable; and what shall be said of that 
large class of the community that emphatically 
yet ignorantly denies contamination from the use 
of pork? 



Trichina Spiralis. 121 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 

New York Herald Articles, 

This parasite is found principally in raw and 
semi-cooked unclean meats, being associated for 
the most part with filth, and meats which have 
been long kept. 

We have seen them in raw pork, a full quarter 
inch in length, and they were not scanty in num- 
bers either. 

It is gloomy to hear young fellows who have 
been off on a fish-fry, boasting of their prowess 
in the way of having provided a luncheon of 
"sandwiches for the crowd," made from raw, 
salted, fat pork, which they averred were "fully 
as good as any other." One could not doubt 
their sincerity so long as they remained un- 
informed as to the evil nature of the substance. 

Many older persons too, we have heard glory- 
ing in the fact of having eaten raw pork ; compe- 
tition with the cook evidently being the point of 
the joke. 



122 Pernicious Pork. 

If taken into the stomach, the vermin presently 
begin to work in an outward direction, aiming 
more particularly for the muscles, for which 
they have a decided affinity. 

Once inside a person, they breed many times 
by thousands. 

The effect on the muscles is partial paralysis 
or only numbness, according to the number at 
work. If a very severe case, the patient is soon 
taken off. It has been testified that this com- 
plaint of trichinosis has been at times mistaken 
for quick consumption. 

TRICHINOSIS IN NEW YORK. 

Some years ago serious alarm arose in New 
York City in connection with this disease; the 
disturbance spreading through the suburbs more 
or less, after its nature had become generally 
known. A number at last succumbed to its 
power. The case of a man, as we remember, 
whose muscles were said to be literally honey- 
combed by the pests, of course, proved fatal. 

The Nezv York Herald took up the matter and 
made the best of the subject in all its different 
phases, while other principal newspapers of the 
city — among them the Tribune — did similar 
good work. 



Trichina Spiralis. 123 

Of course the proper thing to have done under 
the circumstances, was to leave pork severely 
alone, which great numbers did do. 

We suspect that many Germans of this country 
eat quantities of raw, pickled fish, raw pork, and 
other dubious things, many times without mjury 
to themselves from the very iron of their nature. 
If a man be placed on one of our western 
ranches or prairies, at work in the strong, pure 
air and winds that are apt to be encountered 
there, or, if he essay a long sea-voyage, mhahng 
the air and the breezes during those lengthy 
periods of time, that presently he may be m 
condition to eat and digest "anything and 
everything in sight." But any who attempt 
this sort of thing, are cautioned on re- 
turning to civilization about a re-action from 
over-eating, as well as from the loss of 
stimulation from the rougher life and livmg 
left behind them. Better for us all to so live 
at home, with the effect of the sedentary, the 
active and the sanitary so intermingled, that there 
shall be no occasion for going away. 



If Bologna sausage is only half cooked, per- 
haps the worms therein are but half killed. 
Should any one consent to be that benevolent 



124 Pernicious Pork. 

towards them as to try to nurse them back to 
life by making a hospital of the stomach, it may 
be found at the convalescence, that the vermin 
will prove to be as bad as the half frozen viper 
in the fable, which, on being brought to, at the 
kitchen fire, turned upon its benefactor and stung 
him almost fatally. 

Many of these raw and semi-raw edibles are 
filled more or less with the Trichina Spiralis. 
With swine's flesh, if it were swill-fed, pen con- 
fined, or offal produced, the little fellow may 
be easily discovered therein, either with or with- 
out the aid of the glass, he being more or less 
active and sizable according to the excess of 
filthiness of that upon which he has been bred. 

NEW YORK HERALD ARTICLES, AND 
SO FORTH. 

And now we come to some rather extended 
quotations from the Herald regarding Trichino- 
sis, as before referred to, which were published 
a number of years since, and which show up that 
dreadful disease in all its various phases more 
comprehensively than anything else that has come 
to our notice, and which made a deep impression 
on us at the time they appeared. 

Having addressed a note of inquiry to the Her- 



Trichina Spiralis. 125 

aid in relation to the articles, we were informed 
by the general manager, Mr. G. G. Rowland, 
that "their files were not open to the use of the 
public, but that the principal libraries of the city 
probably contained them." Furthermore the dates 
of all the Herald's issues in which anything" of the 
kind had appeared were named, to the extent of 
some half a dozen different numbers of the paper. 
This was not only obliging, but most kind. 
Dr. J. S. Billings, director of the New York 
Public Library, the new edifice of which is now 
erecting at Fifth avenue and Forty-second street, 
most civilly wrote in reply to our note of inquiry 
relative to the files, that "they were included 
among the contents of the library, and would be 
handed to us on applying for the same at the 
desk." 
We quote as follows : 

TRICHINA IN ST. LOUIS. 



Interesting Scientific Investigation. 



'From the Missouri Republican, 



On Saturday evening a meeting of the Medical 
Society was held in the Mercantile Library. 



126 Pernicious Pork. 

After some routine business had been transacted, 
a very interesting and somewhat startling subject 
was introduced. It appears that during the last 
week two deaths occurred in the City Hospital, 
which have now been discovered to have resulted 
from the horrible disease produced by the Trich- 
ina Spiralis, which created so much excitement 
in Germany a short time ago-, and subsequently 
in Iowa and other sections of the country. 

The Trichina, as is well known, are taken into 
the system by eating raw or half-cooked pork. 
The following is the substance of the statement 
made by Dr. Dean, a member of the Medical So- 
ciety : 

"While present a few minutes before the close 
of a post mortem examination and demonstration 
made by Dr. Leffingwell on a subject of the City 
Hospital, though not for discovering the cause of 
death. Dr. L. remarked that the muscles were 
speckled. They drew Dr. Dean's attention to the 
subject, when he saw the muscles completely 
studded with larval trichina spiralis. He at once 
endeavored to get a history of the case, and found 
the patient was one of tvv^o friends who had come 
to the hospital, both suffering from general de- 
bility, and who were so registered. The one 
whose body he saw had suffered from diarrhoea, 
abdominal pain, precordial pain, etc., had been 



Trichina Spiralis. 127 

treated at last for typhoid fever, which he ap- 
peared to have, and from which he was supposed 
to have died. So near are some of the symptoms 
of trichinosis to those of this disease. As" the 
disease and the entozoa are well known he 
would have said nothing of this case except to 
state it and give its bearings, namely, that the 
disease, trichinosis, is much more common than 
generally supposed. If, on examining the other 
body it should be shown that his muscles were 
also inhabited by trichina, it would, by mere acci- 
dent, be shown that two cases, excusably sup- 
posed to have died of typhoid (in the internal 
subject there were lung complications) which, in 
reality, had died of this disease. Dr. D. said Dr. 
Steel had also had his attention drawn to the 
dotted appearance of the muscles, and had, as he 
learned this evening, made out under the micro- 
scope the presence of trichina. 

"Partly by the request of others versed in the 
history of the disease, but who thought some of 
the faculty were not, and partly because of the 
slight importance attached to the subject by some 
practitioners, he would give a brief account of 
the entozoa, and of the disease. 

"The larval trichina as found in the specimen, 
were free, surounded by granular matter, or by 
calcareous matter, which latter forms the spindle 



128 Pernicious Pork. 

of shuttle shaped cyst. This lies imbedded be- 
tween the fibres of the involuntary muscles. It 
does not develop further in the muscles. It is 
found in the same way in the muscles of the 
swine. If this flesh be injected uncooked, the 
calcareous cysts are dissolved by the stomach 
juices 'and the free larva become sexually de- 
veloped and produce young; one producing one 
hundred or more — half a pound of meat might 
contain enough to produce 30,000,000. These 
commence emigrating to the voluntary muscles, 
(so-called) all over the body. As they penetrate 
to the intestines there is a copious diarrhoea, 
which carries off many of them in the dejections, 
but enough remain. As the remaining ones emi- 
grate into the muscles, pain in, and inability to 
use the muscles were characteristic symptoms. 
Edema of limbs and face, a typhoid condition of 
the system, hiccough, if the diaphragm be in- 
volved, hoarseness and loss of voice, if the 
larygnal muscles be affected. 

"This statement excited considerable attention, 
and a brief suspension of business took place, 
while many of the medical gentlemen present ex- 
amined the specimens of the muscles of the de- 
ceased, produced by Dr. Dean, through glasses. 
By holding up a piece of the muscle tissue before 
light, the little specks were plainly visible, and 



Trichina Spiralis. 129 

some of the more youthful practitioners present, 
who had discussed pork steaks and ham for sup- 
per, grew serio'us -and felt considerable inward 
disturbance."— From the New York Herald, 
Nov. 23, 1867. 



In noticing the date of this valuable article, 
it will be seen that the discovery of the disease is 
not recent; but it is certain that among the 
masses, who should especially be enlightened, 
even at the present time, the complaint is 
but little known. This is not only lamentable 
but most unfortunate, and well intentioned people 
will confer lasting benefit on the class of people 
referred to, by laboring quietly and effectively 
towards remedying the evil. 



TRICHINA IN ONEIDA COUNTY, N. Y. 

The death of four members of a family named 
Wilbrecht, in Oneida County, from trichinosis, 
was recently only noticed by the press. In con- 
nection with the case Dr. T. M. Flandrau, of 
Rome, writes to the Utica Herald that a micro- 
scopical examination of the muscles of one of 
the deceased revealed the presence of myriads of 
trichina in an active state. The little worms 



130 Pernicious Pork. 

under the microscope looked like living, writhing 
snakes. 

*'The salt pork and sausages of which the de- 
ceased had eaten, were full of trichina in the in- 
crusted state. This pork was raised by Mr. Wil- 
brecht, and fattened as usual on corn and grain. 
There was nothing in the conduct and appearance 
of the animals when fattening, or the look of the 
meat to indicate disease. The sausages were 
made of raw meat, and then smoked until quite 
black and dry, as is the German custom." — From 
the New York Herald, Feb. 2, 1869. 



It will be noticed in this case, that the fatten- 
ing of pigs on corn, did not prevent the foulness 
of the unclean from producing death. 



DEATH FROM TRICHINA. 



FOUR PERSONS DIE FROM EATING TRICHINIAC 
PORK IN BALLARD COUNTY, KY. 



From the Louisville Courier Journal. 



Four persons were killed by eating meat in 
•which there was trichina, in Ballard County, last 
week. 



Trichina Spiralis. 131 

The stomach of one of them had been sent to 
this city for examination. The facts of the case 
are about as follows : 

"The victims were a German family by the 
name of Haydecker. It seems a ham was pur- 
chased, of which Mr. and Mrs. Haydecker and 
two of the children ate considerable quantities 
in a raw state. Soon after Mr. H. was taken 
sick, and Dr. J. S. Sea was called in. The doc- 
tor did not at first discover anything alarming 
about the symptoms, but the patient grew worse 
until Wednesday evening when he died. In the 
meantime Mrs. Haydecker became ill with similar 
symptoms. Drs. Jewett and Smith were called 
in for consultation, but none of them were famil- 
iar with the symptoms, nor could afford any re- 
lief. On Friday Mrs. Haydecker died, and on 
Saturday the two little girls who had eaten of the 
pork died a similar death to that which had taken 
the father and mother. 

"Thus, four persons in all were poisoned by 
the one fatal meal. Three children who did not 
eat the meat at all, had not been taken sick at 
last accounts." — From N, Y, Herald, April 24, 
1870. 



132 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

TRICHINA CONTINUED. — CYSTOCERERCI. 

The following, taken from the writings of 
Edward Smith, M. D., Fellow of the Royal Col- 
lege of Physicians, London, is reprinted by the 
Appletons. 

He says in part : "There is, however, a greater 
danger in the use of pork than of any other kind 
of meat, since, so far as known, it is more fre- 
quently diseased, and the nature of the disease 
is such as to be very injurious to man. 

"Thus, measly pork— a disease consisting of 
cystocererci as large as hemp seed — is known to 
have produced fatal results to many of those who 
have incautiously eaten it; and although the 
characteristics of the disease may be recognized 
by those who understand it, they are neither 
known nor observed by the great majority of the 
poorer classes. Further, the terrible pests of the 
small worm, called Trichina Spiralis, is much 



Cystocererci. 133 

more frequent in this than in other kinds of flesh 
in its uncooked state, and the power which thi? 
creature has to penetrate the tissues of the body 
of those who eat it has been vividly described 
by German and American writers. 

"Many instances of this terrible disease, isolated 
or in numbers, have now been recorded and par- 
ticularly in Germany. Of 103 healthy people 
who ate diseased pork, which had been made into 
sausage meat at Helstadt, in Prussia, 20 died 
within a month. 

"In Massachusetts a family was thus poisoned, 
with symptoms of pain and swelling of the eyes, 
stomach and bowels, and also in the limbs, which 
became rigid and could not be moved without 
giving excruciating suffering. 

"There were also vomiting and profuse perspi- 
ration. In all the fatal cases the worm was found 
to have penetrated the whole muscular system, 
and upwards of 50,000 were computed to exist 
on a square inch.'' 



134 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

FOREIGNERS GETTING THEIR EYES OPENED. 

The following is from a prominent city daily 
of January, 1900: 

German Opposition to American Meats. 

Berlin,, Sunday.— The MarkthaUenzeitung, 
the organ o'f the Berlin commission merchants, 
declares that the war against the importation of 
American meats into Germany has not been un- 
dertaken in the interest of agriculture, but only 
in the interest of a few agrarians. This, it is 
urged, should end the matter ; but, unfortunately, 
what is said to the prejudice of American meats 
is too willingly accepted as true in government 

circles. 

Replying to this the Agrarian Tagezeitung 
directs attention to the recent decision of the 
court of Dusseldorf , on the appeal of a merchant 
from the confiscation of consignments of Ameri- 



Getting Their Eyes Opened. 135 

can sausages. The court declared that the five 
boxes confiscated had not received a thorough 
examination, and were found on re-examination 
to contain trichina. 

And why should they not contain trichina? 

The sausage is raw material and consequently 
the parasites will and must breed therein, for 
science now pronounces that there can be no such 
thing as spontaneous generation. It is, there- 
fore, difficult to see why the germ must not be 
omnipresent in all raw pork as well as in all 
other unclean meats, from its very incipiency; 
while in the case quoted, it evidently needed 
only the length of time while travelling to Ger- 
many, to develop the germs into life and activity. 

The Germans, it seems, have no intention of 
allowing their muscles to be honey-combed with 
the gay Trichina. We wouldn't, if we were they. 



136 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE UTILITIES OF SWINE. 

At this juncture some presumably may be im- 
pelled to ask, for what good use in the economy 
of nature were swine intended ? or, to what good 
purpose or purposes, if unfit for food, can they be 
applied? 

Well, we think it has been satisfactorily shown 
that they were never intended for dietary use. 

Is it not patent at a glance that the pig is the 
best scavenger there is, .reducing unhealthful 
substances of very many kinds to innocuous con- 
ditions? If he is penned he is no less a scavenger, 
as his keeper then necessarily becomes responsi- 
ble for his supplies, which as a rule he gets un- 
stintedly, and of many and dubious kinds. 

The old time farce of going through the oper- 
ation of feeding corn to the pig for about six 
weeks previous to butchering, may have been a 



The Utilities of Swine. 137 

factor in the fattening process, but it was simply 
a farce in the matter of purifying the animal of 
the effects of that upon which he had been bred, 
for the simple reason that by no human process 
whatsoever can his flesh be rendered cleanly, as, 
and for food. 

The common house fly too, is one of our best 
friends in this matter of scavenging; he, for the 
most part, having matters all his own way, being 
outside of control. Between the two, who can tell 
how much of sickness is warded off by their re- 
spective activities; though the former, in cities 
and their suburbs, has been relegated to a non- 
existing condition. 

Some tell us of other items of utility ; one, for 
example, being a salt pork rind for the cure of 
bruises and related ails, which is said to be help- 
ful. Physicians of the very old school made a 
number of kinds of salves partially of lard, which, 
for all we know, may be the case at the present 
time; but a real good house wife will tell you 
never to use lard for anything medicinal or cur- 
ative, as "it is terribly heating.'' 

Here we have the pig of the matter again — 
heating, inflammatory, feverish — just that which 
it should not be for beneficial effects. 



138 Pernicious Pork. 

But there has been a time in our modern his- 
tory when lard became a positive blessing. 

The interim between the use of whale-oil and 
kerosene was one of long duration, and a cause 
of some considerable alarm. 

Leviathan had about given out when Nan- 
tucket, New Bedford and New London could 
do but little more for us in the functions of light- 
ing our buildings and thoroughfares. New 
York, like other cities, had at that time a dull, 
little light of sperm oil at its street corners, which, 
if placed beside similarly located lights of to-day, 
would be declared to somewhat rank the light- 
ning-bug. 

What was to be done when the Atlantic and the 
Pacific were well nigh exhausted of the oil pro- 
ducing whale? 

Well, we have a faint remembrance of it all; 
most every one, it seemed, was casting about to 
discover or devise some means of lighting which 
could be universally adapted and adopted. 

Burning fluid was compounded. It was bril- 
liant in its light, and cleanly as compared with 
whale oil, but dangerous to handle. 

Chemical oil was invented which was expen- 
sive though very luminous. Composition can- 
dles came in and were good as far as their light 
^vould penetrate. The use of wax candles was 



The Utilities of Swine. 139 

revived, they were beautiful, toney and expensive 
-—the Hght being comparatively dim — but it re- 
mained, however, for lard oil to finally make its 
appearance and handsomely fill the gap, until 
the discovery and perfecting of kerosene; which 
has held the field ever since, though quantities of 
lard oil are still used for various purposes. 

Josiah Macy's Sons, of New York, (and pre- 
sumably others), from having been large manu- 
facturers of whale and sperm oil, were at their 
wits' end ; for, like Othello, their occupation had 
nearly vanished, when they branched off to be- 
come manufacturers of lard oil. Great casks of 
this were presently to be seen on their well-filled 
trucks in all parts of lower New York; and, if 
we are not mistaken, the house still holds to this 
business. 

For lighting and lubricating purposes, the stuff 
was really better than anything else. We have 
also heard it said by those interested in these 
matters that for the lubrication of certain kinds 
of machinery there is nothing so well adapted as 
this lard preparation. 

Other uses are found to which the pig products 
can be put to advantage; the skin is finished as 
leather, which is well adapted for the manufactur- 
ing of various things, such as saddles, travelling 
bags, shoes of some styles, and a number of other 



140 Pernicious Pork. 

articles. Bristles, as every one knows, are the 
staple in brush making — so that the pig really 
has been of some considerable use in the world. 

Should the time ever come when the oil wells 
of the world give out, we may have to fall back 
upon the lard product for our lesser lighting; 
which supply — thanks to the porker, or rather, 
to his Creator — would be limitless ; and who can 
tell but that it is for this he may have been 
principally originated. 

It therefore now remains a question for com- 
putation, how many of the animals it is necessary 
to have bred in order to satisfy the demands of 
utility ; also, whether by degrees. State, or other 
laws shall not be enacted, similar to those which 
bar out the sale of horse meat; for it cannot be 
successfully maintained, that for food, one is 
a whit better than the other. 



The Exportation of Pork. 141 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

STATISTICS OF THE PORK PRODUCTION OF THE 

UNITED STATES, EXPORTED DURING THE 

YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1899. 

It would be interesting as well as instructive 
were it possible to ascertain with accuracy the 
amount of pork consumed annually as food in 
the United States ; for it concerns us as a peo- 
ple somewhat more vitally in the way of health 
and other considerations, than do the amounts 
exported to other nations. 

The various sources of supply outside of the 
professed packing establishments are, first, the 
domestic production, as connected with single 
and isolated families, extending over the vast 
area of the country. Second, the great produc- 



142 Pernicious Pork. 

tion by farmers generally, who, for the most part, 
are well removed from the packing influence, 
and in a great measure supply an outlying do- 
mestic demand; and lastly, that which comes 
through importation— for there must necessarily 
be imports on all sides, to a limited extent— as 
well as exports. 

How much the aggregate consumed by the 
whole country per annum would amount to, is 
a difficult matter to correctly ascertain or esti- 
mate. Referring to the table of statistics, the 
great preponderance of exports to the United 
Kingdom will be found as far outbalancing those 
of all the rest of the world combined ; and who 
can doubt that the consumption in the United! 
States is not two-fold greater than that of Eng- 
land, Scotland, Ireland and Wales together— 
which would certainly seem to be a conservative 
estimate— so that, if we are virtually corrupting 
the whole outside world with our pork produc- 
tion, we are doing the same thing with our own 
country in a most superlative degree. 

Besides the sources of supply named. It may 
be added that the packing establishments, east 
and west, themselves very largely fill local de- 
mands the country over, "the hogs being mostly 
bred at the west." 



The Exportation of Pork. 143 

(From the World Almanac.) 

DISTRIBUTION OF HOG PRODUCTS EXPORTED FROM THE 
UNITED STATES IN THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1899. 

Countries. Bacon. Hams. Pork. Lard. 

Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. Pounds. 

United Kingdom 395.474,204 177,702,854 90,686,214 204,445,770 

France 12,366,110 1,145,490 212,936 32,312,597 

Germany 36,151,678 9,813,118 15,515,225 229,230,175 

Belgium 29,519,843 14,984,833 9,586,676 37,307,555 

Netherlands 10,014,623 4,265,556 10,011,680 74,865,099 

Denmark 1,843,326 691,562 874,175 10,536,795 

Sweden and Norway 28,363,112 463,206 5,124.728 13,157,399 

Spain 147,003 1,500 24,588 5,100 

Italy 12,435,593 187.966 383,973 7,483,483 

Cuba 11,353,301 6,299,486 752,766 27,291,504 

Hayti 566 117,395 6,727,685 1,532,484 

Pcrto Rico 1,138,421 127,234 3,332,800 4,741,704 

British West Indies 258,427 984,977 8,777,720 2.473,287 

Mexico 184,482 277,623 10,518 2,270,339 

Brazil 6,040,051 32,412 117,900 17,839,650 

Colombia 27,325 194,327 176.174 1,766,263 

Venezuela 30,667 450,093 20.000 5,536,080 

British Guiana 10,551 193,330 3,407,400 420,578 

Peru 5,740 27,157 12,800 422,963 

Quebec, Ontario, etc 9.729,041 5,635,192 12,232,093 6,568,5*8 

Nova Scotia, etc 25,354 173,283 1,914,954 189,101 

Newfoundland, etc 50,318 124,784 3,847,407 263,190 

All others 7.381.491 2.023,372 4,760,852 29,400.167 

Totals 562,651,480 225,846.750 '178,507.564 711.259.851 

The total pounds of Bacon, Hams, Pork and Lard exported for the 
year ending June 30, 1899, foot up 1,678. "65. 645. 

The enormity of these aggregations is not 
only astounding, but to those possessed of patri- 
otic feeling and a conscience, is deeply humilia- 
ting. 

Astounding, because at a glance, the vast 
amount and area of defilement are at once vividly 
shown. Humiliating, from the knowledge that 
the love of lucre by one's own countrymen lies 
at the bottom of the whole shocking condition. 
And can those having the welfare of their coun- 



144 Pernicious Pork. 

try at heart rest easy under such a fearful state 
of things? 

The general health, the moral tone and the 
actual vitality of every country, are all lowered 
in proportion as so noxious a substance is eaten 
by the people; while, in consequence, the seeds 
of disease and degeneration will be scattered 
broadcast. 

The increased diffusion and eating of such 
enormous quantities of pork throughout the 
world suggests to the mind a thought of Total 
Depravity through physical causes — for wha,t 
more effectual way of bringing in such a condi- 
tion could possibly be invented ? 

If the old question of Total Depravity has been 
decided in the negative, are we not working in 
this matter of pork eating in the most practical 
way possible to reverse the decision? 

Matter affecting morals, and morals affecting 
the soul, seem to be eventual transitions; nor 
does this require pointed elucidation. 

We know not the far reaching effects of a sin- 
gle line or sentence fitly or forcefully stated— 
neither can we adequately estimate the polluting 
influence upon body and mind from eating the 
unclean. As one has stated : 'The effect of this 
on the individual through influencing the spiritu- 



The Exportation of Pork. 145 

al, may, for all anything we can tell, continue 
eternally." 

What we do know, however, is regarding 
some of the terrors of things terrestrial — of the 
scrofulous, the rheumatic, the cancerous, and so 
forth. 

Witness then in imagination, if possible, the 
agony of good women when submitting to the 
knife of the surgeon before the discovery of 
anesthetics, in, for instance, a case of cancer. 
Many in the present time would prefer death to 
this ! and where is the society that has done any- 
thing in mitigation of the fearful evil in ques- 
tion? 

Observe that this tabulation of pork products 
is the amount in pounds, exported and distributed 
throughout the world in the single year ending 
June 30, 1899. 

If then as we have estimated, the consump- 
tion in the United States exceeds the amount 
exported to the United Kingdom by twice as 
much, we shall have as our total production of 
exports combined with that of home consump- 
tion, amounts as follows : 

Total exports to the various countries of the 
world, 1,678,265,645 pounds. 

The amount consumed at home, 1,737,018,- 
084 pounds. 



146 Pernicious Pork. 

The sum total— three billions, four hundred 
and fifteen millions, two hundred and eighty-three 
thousand, seven hundred and twenty-nine pounds. 
(3,415,283,729). 

This is enough to literally throw consterna- 
tion into the minds of all who hope for the 
continuance of the American Republic. 

Enough combined with the foreign home pro- 
duction to inflame the whole world with its in- 
nate poison — and enough from another point of 
view, combined with that produced during the 
last twenty-five years, to have caused all the 
increase of commotion in the world which this 
period of time has seen ! 

Is it doubted that the eating of swine flesh 
causes propensities in the one eating it similar to 
those possessed by the hog?!! So it has been 
pointedly testified in these pages ; and who shall 
deny that the increased activity of the Evil-One 
throughout the world in the last decade or 
more, as manifested in war, dissension, and 
violence against those in high places, is not in 
just about the same proportion of the extra pro- 
duction of the commodity of pork during the 

same time ? 

The pig should go— and that quickly. 



Appeals. 147 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

APPEALS. 

And now as we draw near to the close of 
our work, we come to practical suggestions rel- 
ative to the eradication of pork as human food. 

First, then, we appeal to the people of every 
town, city and hamlet in the United States, Great 
Britain and Germany, to purge out the foul sub- 
stance from within their very boundaries. 

Its sale should be as liable to the control of 
law as poison, gun powder and horse meat. 

The first two named, are generally licensed to 
be sold. 

The last is not licensed in its sale at all, but 
should be barred out by legal statute, city or 
town ordinance; or, better still, by the arbitrary 
methods of Boards of Health. 

Pork in this connection should be placed on a 
par with horse meat. 



148 Pernicious Pork. 

Were a ban to be put upon its sale, general 
health would begin at once to improve, at least 
so far as this is concerned, continuing so to do 
until a normal condition were attained. 

Public expenses as connected with poorhouses, 
town farms, hospitals and related institutions 
would gradually diminish— nay, there would in 
time be much less poverty generally; for what- 
ever tends to lessen the tone of health, tends also 
to sickness and degenerate conditions; there- 
fore, let every one in both public and private life 
agitate and agitate, until an actual Revolution is 
in sight. 

IN SCHOOLS. 

Also, let the doctrine be taught in the various 
schools, in order that the young may come to a 
knowledge of the truth while the mind is as yet 
in a plastic condition— and instead of having the 
imagination affected by wood cuts of sales by 
ignorant Chinese, of rats, etc., for cooking, let 
them have the truth in good round English. 

This at once suggests to authors the prepara- 
tion of text-books for school and academy uses 
—yes, and for the college as well— which latter 
should contain all practical and gleanable truths 
bearing on the subject. 



Appeals. 149 



THE PULPIT. 

The pulpit also may, with propriety, pronounce 
upon the matter, as most certainly it would be 
good Bible doctrine. 

As the God of Heaven has forbidden the thing, 
why should they who are in a sense responsible 
for others not approach so vital a matter? For- 
bidden of Heaven, why should not man frown 
upon it, and that continually ? 

THE FAMILY. 

Of all influences that are most potent in both 
immediate and lasting effects, those brought to 
bear by the heads of the family would seem 
to be greatest. 

Position for guidance, voice to instruct, and 
power of enforcement, all are here. More real 
and lasting effect can be produced by parental 
authority, than by all other influences — we had 
almost said — combined ; if parents would but ex- 
ercise their powers. 

Not only the immediate good, but that of the 
future is at stake. Vivacity, clear complexion, 
contamination of the blood, not to mention more 
serious matters — all are in question. v 



150 Pernicious Pork. 

THE POWER OF WEALTH. 

We appeal also* to people of means— they more 
than many others wield an influence all their 
own Let the use of pork in the household m all 
its various forms be abolished. Also, let it be 
understood that the contamination cannot there 

be tolerated. i r ^" 

The silent influence of "planting the foot 
upon it at all times is more expressive than many 

words. . , 

Should a little volubility at opportune times be 
desirable, a fitting topic suggests as to the re- 
spectability of having such questionable food m 
the house. 

HEALTH JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES. 

We further appeal to those invaluable sources 
of information and instruction, the health journal 
and magazine. The good which they have ac- 
complished in the past, in the way of enlight- 
ening the public, and, of the consequent uplift- 
ing of mankind, can be hardly estimated ; for it is 
from such sources that new health doctrines have 
heretofore, in a great measure, been promul- 
gated. 



Appeals. 151 

A revolution in thinking, with resultant prac- 
tice, in the direction of improving the com- 
munity's health, can, in a great degree, be traced 
to these journals. Therefore, let a fresh and 
"forceful prodding of the beast" now be in order. 



TOTAL ABSTINENCE SOCIETIES. 

We now come to the two most potent factors 
of our appeals — the forming of Total Abstinence 
Societies, and the inaugurating of Newspaper 
Organs for accelerating the reform. 

Let total abstinence societies then be formed 
in every town, hamlet and city throughout the 
national commonwealth, binding members to the 
disuse of pork with all its ramifying adjuncts — 
of sausage, steak, spare rib, head cheese, liver, 
souse, ham, bacon, pickled feet and lard in all 
the manifold ways in which it is used. 

These societies when formed should be kept 
up in interest by all conceivable methods. In 
due time, when newspapers shall have begun to 
circulate, the onerous labor will in a degree begin 
to abate; for then, correspondence, news, glad 
tidings, and so forth, will be recorded and read 
to the effect of doing away with the drudgery of 
the pioneer work. But encouragement and sue- 



152 Pernicious Pork. 

cess will eventually appear, flashing around tlie 
horizon, after the preliminary hard labor has 
been gone through with. 

Therefore, let intelligent, active and benevolent 
women initiate the movement at once, no matter 
where they are located, whether in remote ham- 
let or nearby city, and wait not on the order of 
their beginning. Let them see to it also that 
they in their first endeavors, do not tire from any 
cause whatever. The old couplet remember: 

"The bud may have a bitter taste. 
But sweet zvill be the Hower" 

Neither let them give ear to the machinations 
of the enemy, their friends many times, who, 
through outside and other influences, will try 
in various ways to circumvent the movement. 

The actual expenses of a society need at the 
outset be next to nothing, particularly in country 
places, as may be seen upon brief reflection. 

Let men also put their shoulders "to the 
wheel" in good earnest; forming their own so- 
cieties likewise. 

These v/hen systematized might serve to keep 
those of the ladies in countenance, through the 
strength of a good right arm at times, and in 



Appeals. 153 

ways all the time of their own skillful, usual and 
easy devising. 

It, too, would devolve upon the men's socie- 
ties, in time, to put before State Legislatures and 
Health Boards, such memorials for abolish- 
ing the use of pork, as might be deemed advisa- 
ble. 

As much enterprise could be put into society 
proceedings as fancy and audacity might sug- 
gest, for it would in all probability be found, 
after a society were fairly started, that time 
would show the movement to be one of those 
matters that go like wildfire. 

The enemy would soon tire of selling the 
poison in the face of a galling and popular fire, 
besides, he could easily resort to sales which 
inure to the weal of man, rather than to his woe. 

In one short year a change could be made for 
the good of the country that would arrest the 
attention of statisticians. 

Intercommunication, too, when the newspaper 
shall have been established, can be kept up with 
all parts of the State for comparing notes, for 
encouragement, and so forth; when workers 
would be able to consider the amount of disease 
and defilement which they themselves were caus- 
ing to be rolled away from the community, 



154 Pernicious Pork. 

SUGGESTION FOR A FORM OF PLEDGE. 

I, John Smith, hereby promise to abstain from 
eating pork in all its parts, and from things 
cooked in lard as far as it is practicable, and 
to teach those whom I can influence in the matter 
to do the same thing, and to be instant in season 
and out of season in my endeavors to rid the 
community of the foul blight. 

Signed and dated. 



INAUGURATING OF THE NEWSPAPER ORGAN. 

As a most effectual means of pushing forward 
the movement, let newspapers be established in 
every State in the Union. In some of the larger 
ones two or more could thrive ; while in a few 
cases a half dozen could live and live well. 

All these, when established, should denounce 
the evil in terms unmeasured, in season and out 
of season, in the wisest and most telling man- 
ner. 

They should be influential in founding and 
assisting societies in every part of the State, and 
when started to encourage them in every way 
Dossible, 

Every little village^ both far aiid near, should 



Appeals. 155 

have its society, as these are more especially the 
places where those of limited means are found; 
while from having fewer libraries and books, the 
people here are perhaps more difficult of interest- 
ing in new propositions. 

CENTRAL ORGAN IN NEW YORK. 

The head central newspaper in New York City 
would be in position to reap a harvest in cold 
cash, as being the leading journal of the coun- 
try. Its success would depend upon the amount 
of integrity, capital, acumen and insistence 
brought to bear on the enterprise. 

Every calling, craft and reform movement un- 
der the sun now has its representative orgaU; 
excepting the one under consideration. 

Chicago should support half a dozen such 
journals ; Omaha, two or three ; St. Louis, four 
or five ; Connecticut, one ; New Jersey, two, and 



so on. 



Opposition likely to be encountered should if 
rightly handled, be the very best thing for pro- 
moting success. If it would but antagonize the 
movement, victory would be assured; for such 
action would not only prove a source of adver- 
tisement, but would impart life and ze^t t9 it 
besides, 



156 Pernicious Pork. 

Should the opposition think to kill off the 
movement by leaving it severely alone, then it 
would be only a question of time upon which 
horn of the dilemma it would finally be im- 
paled. 



Coming to Close Quarters. 157 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

COMING TO CLOSE QUARTERS — EFFECTS OF SMALL 
AMOUNTS OF PORK EATEN IN FAMILIES. 

Some doubtless may wish to inquire if it is 
really thought that pork-eating in minor quan- 
tities, as used in the average family, is so serious 
a matter as would seem from a perusal of the 
foregoing pages? 

Well, were this simple query examined in all 
its bearings, the recorded results would cover 
considerable paper. 

The little things and the silent forces of the 
world are much more powerful many times than 
their opposites. 

"Taking care of the pence that the pounds 
may take care of themselves," is one of those 
wise ''old saws," which in earlier times was worn 
threadbare; while the would-be millionaire, in 
one way or another, must learn the value of the 
nickel before ev^n laying the foundations for his 
millions. 



158 Pernicious Pork. 

And with regard to those silent forces, the 
calm and continued sunshine is a thousand times 
more potent in its way than all the tornadoes that 
ever blew; while gravity and cohesion in their 
eternal silence outdo in power all the earth- 
quakes and volcanoes that have belched out their 
fury since the dawn of creation ! 

Of the comparatively small amounts of pork 
and lard referred to as used from day to day in 
families, what are we to say of their aggregate 
in weeks, months and years? Upon computa- 
tion they will be found as simply enormous. 
And in order to get down to exact knowledge 
let any, or all, foot up their bills paid in a 
twelve-month for these items, when they will 
then have the whole story. 

If any one has carefully observed the effect 
of the accumulation of littles, in any direction, it 
is just here in this daily use of small amounts of 
the "pernicious" that the principle stands illus- 
trated. 

Says one medical writer: "It is the continual 
nibbling by young girls at everything in the 
house that destroys the appetite and ruins the 
digestion." And it is "constant small tippling," 
say the temperance workers, "that is eventually 
productive of the greater mischief from drink- 
ing/^ 



Coming to Close Quarters. 159 

So, too, is it in the use of the "pernicious." It 
is the steady, continuous use of small quantities 
that finally results in lasting injury. 

We may, therefore, safely conclude that pork- 
eating in minor quantities, together with lard, 
as tised in the average family, is something seri- 
ous snough to be termed one of the very worst 
anO. most mischievous phases of the matter. 



160 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

COOKING FATS. 

Some of the valuable fats for cooking are as 
follows — and among those which are most so, 
the fat of poultry may be named — that of geese, 
turkeys and chickens. It has been said that the 
fat of geese in this connection is most valuable, 
but is apt to become rancid if not well taken care 
of. 

Poultry fat would seem to be good enough to 
suit the most fastidious. 

Of course, the fat of beef and mutton must re- 
main the standby for general cooking, while dif- 
ferent families would probably have their own 
particular methods for keeping the same sweet^ 
as well as for treating it, in the varying tempera- 
tures of the year. 

An excellent housekeeper, who utterly disdains 
pork, tells us of a comparatively new cooking 
fat which seems to be quite adequate — cod fat, 



Cooking Fats. 161 

It is found ill beeves, adjacent to the kidneys, 
and is much softer than suet when rendered. It 
is usually kept in the markets, and sells at five or 
six cents the pound. It is almost as pliable as 
lard; and if milk be added, is still more easily 
wrought. 

For some purposes, butter combined with cod 
fat is very satisfactory. 

Butter, however, for purposes to which it is 
especially appropriate, is par excellence the most 
desirable cooking fat. The fried foods which 
heretofore have been cooked in lard, if done in 
butter are doubly enhanced in palatable values; 
some may urge its expense when compared with 
lard, but upon taking everything into considera- 
tion, how vastly more economical is it? 



162 Pernicious Pork. 



CHAPTER XL. 

RECAPITULATION. 

In passing to a very brief recapitulation of the 
case, we may say that if there are large num- 
bers of people in our country who disdain the 
eating of pork, there are thousands to their one 
who never so much as heard a word against it; 
but, as an author, quoted, states: "Pork, both 
fresh and salted, is an article of diet that ought 
to disappear, and is disappearing before civiliza- 
tion and culture." That is to say, in proportion 
as the people become informed as to its inherent 
nature, the more will they be likely to abstain 
from its use. 

With regard to the Commandment, it would 
seem that the candid, always anxious for their 
own welfare, rather than antagonize the matter, 
would prefer extremes in an opposite direction. 
And what more is necessary to be said in this 
connection ? 



Recapitulation. 163 

The medical profession, of the Allopathic and 
the Homeopathic schools, we have shown, has 
not lifted up its voice in vain. The many quo- 
tations which we give, are full of vital informa- 
tion and force. 

Foreign lands that are afflicted with an un- 
clean dietary, upon investigation, seem to have 
the pig as a leader in the same — while China and 
India are most prominent. 

These countries are found in such conditions 
probably from being outside the track of civiliza- 
tion, and because the Star of Empire has contin- 
ually taken its way westward, thus leaving them 
in the lurch. 

They probably do not yet comprehend the 
double action which is being brought to bear 
upon them. 

If the Star of the Empire has persistently 
moved westward, it cannot be said of it, upon 
arriving at our Pacific Coast from the Atlantic 
side, that it came to a final stopping place; be- 
cause it has already skipped over the great wa- 
ters to the Sandwich and Philippine Islands, and 
will soon be planting a solid rap in the backs o£ 
India and China from the East. Then, poor 
things, what will they do, with the fires of civili- 
zation attacking them from both front and rear? 
To be overtaken with whiskey and pork in con- 



164 Pernicious Pork. 

junction, and from all quarters, is what might 
be called civilization with a vengeance! 

The eating of horse meat is only another of 
those things that the ignorant and the lazy will 
sometimes take to ; for there is hardly an abomi- 
nable thing in the world — either animal or veg- 
etable — ^but that some will eat if left to them- 
selves or to the whims of others — though it can 
be truthfully said that genuine old-fashioned 
Americans, even among the very poor, never so 
much as tasted this foul substance of horse meat ; 
while to bring it in at this late day, and as an im- 
portation, would savor of rank abomination. 

The New York City law, as revised by the 
Board of Health, should be promulgated in all 
the cities of the Union. Such a law if adopted 
by these cities, even though lacking opportunity 
of enforcement, would be educative in its influ- 
ence. 

The quotation of garbage-fed pork is a verita- 
ble pointer. It is a sign of reformation. Proof 
positive that good leaven is actually at work in 
the minds of the people. 



THE END. 



Ul.^ ;^^ i^Ug 



